Best Equestrian Camping near Napa, CA

Skyline Wilderness County Park is a great little campground just outside of downtown Napa. There are always a lot of RVs there, but thankfully the tent section is separate from most of the RVs. The tent area leaves a little to be desired and is basically just a stretch of grass with picnic tables, BBQs and very little separation or cover from trees. Of course you don’t really think wilderness camping when you think of Napa Valley.

Despite being close to town there is actually quite a bit to do in the park and once you get back from the campground a bit you can really feel kind of far away from the congested Napa Valley. There are quite a few hiking trails and some offer beautiful views of the valley. By far the most popular is the Lake Marie Trail and Fire Road and Manzanita is popular with mountain bikers.

The River to Ridge Trail is nice and provides access to the Kennedy Park, the Napa River, and miles of bike paths, but check at the kiosk if the gate next to highway 221 (Soscol Ferry Road) is open and I have found it to not have a very consistent schedule.

According to a couple of friends that are pretty die-hard disk golfers, the course at Skyline is one of the best and most challenging in the area. I found it to be pretty fun, especially is your expectations are extremely low.

Being Napa Valley there is of course wine tasting and having a parking spot at the campground you have the perfect opportunity to take an Uber or car service to ensure your safety while enjoying Napa’s most famous export.

This is not a park that will provide you with memorable hikes or photos for your Instagram, but it is a decent place to stay in Napa if you’re the type that prefers to sleep in a tent or RV over a very pricey hotel.

I've camped here more times than I can count.  I remember camping here during several wine-soaked weekends with large groups of friends, back in my younger days.  We rode our bikes through the Napa valley, stopping at multiple wineries along the way.  Then, after a day of riding and wine tasting, we retired back to our campsites for an evening of grilling and drinking of local wines (of which there are many, many excellent choices). I've only tent camped here; I've not brought my Airstream because I don't think there are spots that are large enough for it.  However, I do recall seeing trailers and RV's here in the past, so it can accomodate rigs of smaller sizes.

There's nothing dramatically beautiful about this park, but if you like California country living - oaks, madrone, rolling hills, and lots of sunshine - than you'll enjoy it here.  It's a short drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, and is quite literally in the Napa valley, on its northern end, near Calistoga.  You'll easily be able to get to all the restaurants and wineries in the valley. You won't be disappointed with a couple of nights camping at Bothe-Napa.

One important note: I have not been here since the fires that have ravaged Napa and Sonoma every year since 2017.  There has been at least one fire that burned very near this park, causing it to close temporarily.  I don't know how bad the impact to the park has been, as I've not seen it first hand.  As I write this in summer 2021, the campground is open, so hopefully the fire and smoke damage was minimal.   As I've mentioned in many of my other posts, the sad reality of the ongoing drought in California is that summer camping is not the experience it used to be.  It's still fun, but I would argue winter or early spring is now the best time to visit places like Bothe-Napa.  The creeks will be flowing, you'll be allowed to have a campfire, and the vegetation will be greener and lusher.

Per my rating system, I give this 4 stars as it's not a place you'd plan a trip to from out of state, but it is a place you should consider visiting as part of a larger trip to Napa/Sonoma.  For locals, this is a top tier spot.

This was Part 2 of a "Test My Gear Close to Home" camping experience.  It's close enough to the wine country aspects of Napa to be an easy overnight without the excruciating Napa Valley hotel prices.  Google doesn't like finding the entrance, but I got the street address off the website and eventually made it.  The gentleman at the gate was lovely; the camp hosts kept to themselves.  My only drawback was that the showers were foul (cobwebs and spiders everywhere).  It's very quiet and woodsy.  I couldn't see my neighbors.  I was awoken (as is the norm in NorCal) to gobbling turkeys at dawn.  Easy access to hiking trails.  A shuttle stops at the park to take people into town for dinner if they don't want to drive after drinking.  The ground is volcanic rock and super hard in the dry weather.  I broke a couple tent poles and couldn't pull the rest out of the ground, so they're now donations.

We just stayed here for 2 nights, great location very close to Calistoga and not to far from Saint Helena! Next time i would love to try out a cabin or yurt. Cons are lots of poison oak and lots and lots of wasps! Bring a trap and be prepared to constantly tell the kids to stay away from the bushes. Great creek near by (we spent most of our time stacking rocks) and great hiking trails i believe it’s a 5 mile loop up ritchy creek. Very cool to see hundreds of frogs everywhere at night. Overall had a great time. Pool was awesome, staff was friendly, facilities were clean! Wood was overpriced but hey that’s the Napa Valley for you!