We were out to the coast last week and left on Wednesday for two nights at Gualala State Park CG.
Traffic was light, but it was midweek.
We opted to take Mountain View road from between Booneville and Philo to Manchester. It's a narrow road, without a center line and hundreds of blind corners. A great ride, but I doubt I'll repeat it. The steep descents and slide slopes of the coastal topography require vigilant driving. I recommend Faulkner Park (est. 1931) for a quiet lunch not far from Booneville.
The Gualala State Park CG is next to the river, and we even picked up a bit of wifi in camp. The bathrooms were clean and a coin-op hot shower was superb. Our camp was cheek to jowl with others, and I would take #10, #11 or #12 next time. There's a nice group of walk-in camps too.
We visited the headlands on our first afternoon there, and saw few people. We explored the old Gualala road along the river and found gravel bars with few people.
On Thursday we did a redwood hike, then went to Shell Beach, where there's only five parking spots at the TH access. We got the last park spot. It was great, and I was able to photograph a pair of harbor seals enjoying themselves. The Sea Ranch hiking trails are well designed IMHO.
On Friday we drove up to first-come, first-serve Navarro Beach and there were two camp spots still open. We decided to spend a few hours on the big sandy beach and returned back home later that day, getting off the road by dark.