Overnight camping is prohibited on a beach along California's central coast due to excessive “human waste,” officials said this week.
The California Coastal Commission announced Thursday that overnight camping and bonfires will be banned on San Carpoforo Beach for the next two years.
Beachgoers walk along the shore as a campfire glows on San Carpoforo Creek Beach on California Highway 1 near Ragged Point on Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Big Sur, CA. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
San Carpoforo, or “San Carpo,” is located off Highway 1 in northern San Luis Obispo County, about a four-hour drive south of San Francisco. It's the only free beach campground in the Big Sur area, a fact that wasn't widely known until recently.
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The Commission detailed the deteriorating beach quality in a recently released staff report. The report noted that more visitors frequented the camp once word spread that it was free. A lack of resources for the U.S. Forest Services to monitor the site and a lack of trapping containers, bathrooms and fire pits have led to higher levels of trash and debris, the report said.
“The beach has no bathrooms, very limited parking, no drinking water, no dumpsters, and no trash collection,” the Commission wrote in the staff report.
The area is home to several endangered animals, such as the western snowy plover, which has been negatively affected by deteriorating beach conditions.
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While the ban is in effect, the U.S. Forest Service will devise a plan to “reset” and find a way to allow camping in the future. Day use of the beach is still available to visitors.
