SUMMER LIVING : Vacations in...

Summertime, and cousins Jennifer Gonzalez and Becky Jensen of Valley Center, both 14, are sprawled on lawn chairs at their San Elijo State Beach campsite in Cardiff. They are camping with six friends and family, sharing their own small tent.

It’s late afternoon, time to think about dinner (“steak and chili cheese fries”). They spent the morning combing tide pools for sea creatures (“mostly sea slugs”), swimming and bodyboarding. Tonight, they’ll watch grunion run at another beach in nearby Del Mar.

A few campsites away, Penny and Mike Briscoe and Cassie and Howie Wendell, their children and a teen-age cousin, all from Oceanside, are hanging around camp after a day of surfing, snorkeling, fishing, and people-watching. Their campsite is loaded with tents, a motor home, a car, surfboards and bicycles.

At yet another San Elijo campsite, a half dozen bronzed teen-age boys from Escondido are gathered under a fabric sun shelter before their third and final three-hour surfing session of the day. Of course, surfing isn’t the only attraction here.

“We scam on the chicks,” reports Blaize French, one of the young surfers.

In summer, four state campgrounds on or near the beach in North County take on the life of small cities. They are only a few miles, at most, from conventional city life but the camping lifestyle is as pronounced as it would be high in the Sierra. Friendly folks are up early, making breakfast. At night, people cook on Coleman stoves and dine casually at campsite picnic tables, then sit around fire rings, poking logs and roasting marshmallows.

North County’s campgrounds, open year round, are especially busy during summer. Three campgrounds that are virtually on the beach--San Elijo, South Carlsbad and San Onofre--require reservations roughly two months in advance. A fourth, San Mateo, about a mile inland from San Onofre, opened last year and has not yet been discovered by campers. Weekdays, it’s not full, and a campsite can be obtained without a reservation.

Last year, San Elijo and South Carlsbad attracted about 380,000 campers. San Onofre drew a whopping 500,000.

San Elijo and South Carlsbad are the only two campgrounds with camp stores selling food, charcoal, sunscreen and other beach-camping essentials. Campers at San Onofre and San Mateo must make the short drive to San Clemente for provisions.

According to rangers, all four campgrounds are generally peaceful and quiet at night.

All four campgrounds can accommodate tents, trailers and motor homes. All campsites have picnic tables and fire rings.

Beyond those similarities, all four have distinctive personalities.

SAN ELIJO

San Elijo (take the Birmingham exit off Interstate 5) has good, consistent surf, so it’s popular for surfing and body boarding. It’s also the only campground of the four located next to a reef populated by rare marine life--a great place to snorkel.

Also, it’s closer to civilization than the other three. The heart of Cardiff, with restaurants, a small shopping center, Miracle’s coffee shop and other small businesses is just a short walk across the coast highway.

San Elijo, which opened in 1966, is the oldest of the beach campgrounds.

SOUTH CARLSBAD

South Carlsbad, also known as “Ponto” (take Poinsettia Boulevard west off I-5), is, like San Elijo, situated atop an ocean-view bluff. Its rocky beach isn’t as nice for beach-combing or lounging but the views are great, and it feels more secluded than San Elijo or San Onofre.

South Carlsbad opened in 1968, two years later than San Elijo. With 226 campsites, South Carlsbad is the largest of the four campgrounds.

SAN ONOFRE

San Onofre (use the Basilone Road exit off I-5) has a wide, uncrowded white sand beach and less consistent surf. It’s popular with people of all ages, especially families, who lounge on the beach, play in the sand and take an occasional dip in the ocean.

A drawback is that campsites are along the old coast highway in view of the Amtrak tracks and I-5.

San Onofre, originally intended for day use only, has the least luxurious restroom-shower facilities, with no hot water and a solar electrical power system that sometimes goes on the blink, leaving campers unexpectedly in the dark. The campground was opened in 1977.

SAN MATEO

This is the newest of the beach campgrounds, built at a cost of $3.8 million and opened in May of last year.

San Mateo (get off I-5 at Christianitos Road) is more secluded, the only one of the four campgrounds located east of I-5. Tucked among chaparral and newly planted sycamores on a sloping hill that leads down to San Mateo Creek, San Mateo’s 166 campsites are more spread out than the sites at the other three campgrounds. The beach is a mile’s hike away.

Its amenities include spiffy new tiled restroom-shower facilities.

San Mateo is the only one of the four North County campgrounds that has regular nighttime fireside programs conducted by rangers. Campers at San Mateo and San Onofre also can drive to nearby San Clemente State Campground (there’s no direct route for hikers), just across the Orange County line, for campfire programs.

For summer camping at state beach campsites, you should make a reservation two months in advance by calling Mistix (1-800-444-7275). Nightly rates for campsites range from $16 to $21, less if you reserve by the week.