So much fun! The Yurt was bigger than we expected and very comfortable! We were there during a hot week at the end of September and never needed the heater, although it did get comfortably cool at night. The bed is very comfy, although I suspect it is a double, not a queen, and there's plenty of room to hang out without feeling cramped at all. There is also a coffee maker but that's about it for indoor conveniences. Think of this mostly like (car) camping, but without the tent. There is also a sink dedicated to the Yurt so you don't have to walk all the way down to the parking lot (where the porta potty is) to wash dishes or whatever. The shower is also right there although we didn't use it. One thing I wished was that there had been more of a tour when we got there! Our daughter would have loved to meet the chickens and the (neighbors'?) llamas! And maybe learn about the food they grow etc.

The place is relatively easy to find and close to lots of beautiful nature. We spent the day at the beach at Moss Landing and then had dinner in Monterey, which is about 45 minutes south.

This place is amazing! For sure book this stay!

I read another review suggesting the King Fisher Flats site was not as good as the others here - I wholly disagree! This site is lovely, secluded, well-kept and comfortable! It's the second-closest site to the hot springs (site #1 is closest), but it's also the shadiest/ coolest site. The camp host is very welcoming and brought us a HUGE pile of firewood upon our arrival, and we loved hearing the sound of the river all night. We also walked down to the river and swam/ walked upstream after setting up camp, which was so lovely and welcome on a hot afternoon. And of course, the hot springs themselves were perfect. We went at around 10am on a Monday and we were the only folks there!

The only thing to keep in mind if you're planning to book King Fisher is that it is a "walk-in" site - i.e., it's about a 5 minute walk from where you park to the site itself, and it's a bit of an uphill. So just plan and pack accordingly!

Pros: A truly beautiful spot by the river on a little farm / homestead owned by some very lovely folks. The river is perfect for swimming and they've made a lovely little "kiddie pool" that we never wanted to get out of. There are also a few farm animals that the hosts will introduce you to and let you pet and feed, which is a huge hit with kids.

Cons: we stayed in one of the two spots further up from the river and these spots are definitely not as good. No direct/ personal river access and unfortunately I was smelling the out house all night long 🤢. The worst thing, though, was that the night we stayed there, the three river front spots had been booked by a huge family group celebrating a 40th birthday. They were ridiculously loud, blasting their music and singing along with it literally all night long. We finally went and asked them to turn it down some time after 2am, but they turned it WAY back up at around 4am. As far as I know, the hosts (who live in a house just about 150 feet away from the sites) never went and asked them to quiet down.

Of course, one of the great things about hipcamping is that large groups can camp together like they maybe couldn't in a regular camp ground, and of course the hosts should be free to welcome any guests they want to, but in my opinion they either should have not rented to us knowing that they had a big party group coming the same night (in other words, if one group books all three river-front sites, take down the listings for the other two sites), or they should have done more to regulate the sound at night so that all their guests could be comfortable.

Ok, so first of all, this farm is AMAZING, and Elizabeth and her farm hand were both wonderful, and so welcoming! We had an absolute BLAST here when we camped 2 nights in April (pretty cold at night - pack your long johns!), and our 2 year old daughter is going to be SO disappointed the next time we go camping and there aren't any sheep or baby ducks to pet!

Just a couple down sides about camping here to note: while the listing makes it clear that the camp fire and composting toilet are communal among all the sites (there are 3 camp sites, one yurt, and one cabin available to rent on this farm), it was not that clear to me that both are *right next to the yurt* and are actually quite a hike (up a pretty steep hill) from all but one of the camp sites (the pond site - not the one we stayed at). When it comes to the campfire this isn't that big of a deal, except for that you kind of have to pack a bag with all the things you're going to need to cook dinner and hang out at the fire for the night when you head up there, otherwise you will be making a bunch of difficult treks up and down the hill for things! This is probably more of an issue for families with young kids.

However, the toilet being right next to the yurt felt like a bit more of an inconvenience IMO. First of all, of course you can just pee in the woods like you would at a regular camp site, but this is a food farm so it's not appropriate to do *more than* pee in the woods. That means making the trek up the hill every time you have to go #2, which shouldn't be too much of a problem.... But what makes it worse is that the toilet is actually like *right* outside the door of the yurt. You can see through the window into the yurt while you're sitting on the toilet. And I assume the reverse is also true.... so... yeah. It's a little... intimate with the guests staying in the yurt.

Lastly, as others have noted, the sound system in the yurt seems to be quite good, and the sound carries quite well across the farm - so if the yurt guests are playing music or being loud past the "curfew" than you will hear it in your tent. Of course you would encounter a similar issue in any public camp ground, and when it happened to us we just made the trek up the hill to the yurt and asked them to quite down, which they did promptly.

SO, in short, my advice is, Yes, stay here at Shanti, but RENT THE YURT IF YOU CAN! The yurt looked amazing when we peeked inside - I think it would be *more than* worth the money Elizabeth is charging to stay there. :)

Such a lovely spot! The photos really don't do it justice. Nathan has set up a perfect camping area that's far enough away from his house that you feel like you're camping in secluded woods, but close enough that if you need to use the fancier outhouse facilities (including a tub with hot water!) that are near it you can walk up to them easily. There's also a raudamentery outhouse, running water from a hose, AND a little sink right at the site too. PLUS, when we got there Nathan brought us a basket of fresh organic produce from their garden!! We will definitely be visiting this site again!

This place is incredible. I highly recommend it, and also recommend doing the Animal Interaction if you can. So so worth it!

I threw a small camping birthday party for my husband here last weekend and both the site itself and the host, Montrese, made it one of the best camping trips we've ever been on. The wind-shielded camp fire and fully stocked kitchen (there's a full sized working oven and stove, and you can leave your pots and pans at home!) were amazing amenities to have, and it's so wonderful that they provide fire wood for you! We also reserved the RV, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it comes with a HEATER! The views are stunning of course, and we very much enjoyed the swing set. At night we heard horses galloping by, which completed the magical feel of the place. Also the outhouse was probably the cleanest outhouse I've ever been in.

In the days leading up to the trip, I found Montrese to be extremely communicative and also very laid back and understanding as I tried to wrangle our friends and make decisions while keeping the night a secret from my husband. I changed our group size on her a couple times and she was totally fine with it, and we also wavered about doing the animal interaction so she let us make a last minute decision on that (SO glad we did it!).

On the animal interaction we got to meet, pet, and hug a number of horses, as well as two alpacas, two donkeys, and two pigs (we were running late, so we didn't have time to meet the roosters!). Montrese led us around her amazing property and walked us through interacting with the animals in a way that made us ALL feel safe and so connected. I cannot believe the amount of work she's doing out there to make such a wonderful home for all these creatures who've seen so much cruelty in their lives, and I'm so so happy to have been able to contribute a little financially to supporting that. Plus it was a day we will surely never forget!