Experienced Ventana
There was a special $5 off coupon in the Monterey County Weekly newspaper for camping in the privately owned Ventanna Campground in Big Sur. The offer was only good until the end of May though, so I headed out on another Thursday night (May 18th) to check it out (no classes until 1pm on Friday). I wanted to beat the Memorial Day weekend rush, and I certainly did! Also, since I plan to buy a California State Parks Annual Permit (or with membership) shortly, I will likely be camping only at the state parks in Big Sur after such. So the timing was quite good!
Out of the 70+ campsites at Ventana (3+ in regular use by Ventana employees) there were perhaps only 5 other campsites in use besides mine, and they were totally “sold out” for the next (Memorial Day) weekend. I think I actually got one of their best campsites also… site #22 which had a stream and two little waterfalls just yards away - I fell asleep listening to the falls. But be forewarned, there are definitely some great and some ‘not very good at all’ campsites there, so I tried to make note of that in case I should return again sometime. I’ll write up a report on Ventana Campground and post photos of the campsites in the near future!