Best Tent Camping near San Jose, CA

Getting there: From San Jose it took me about 40 minutes. The road is windy, narrow, and not for the car sick. Be prepared to pay $6 for parking.

Campsites: The campsites are nicely maintained. Plenty of area to pitch a tent, all the sites have a BBQ, fire pit, and picnic table. The sites are close together to maybe bring ear plugs in case you have loud neighbors.

The Park: Really pretty, really small. I would say in 1 full day you can explore 100% of this park. No need to make an entire weekend out of this place when you can do all of the pretty stuff in just a few hours.

What to do: Go see the waterfalls. With the current California drought all of the falls were at little more than a trickle but still something to see. To hike to each fall it's about 6ish miles with just a few hundred feet of total elevation gain. The trails are large and well defined for an very entry level experience.

Castle Rock State Park is located a few miles from the "Saratoga Gap", which is the junction of Hwy 35 ("Skyline") and Hwy 9.  Road and mountain bikers in the Bay Area will be familiar with this area, and on weekends the parking lot where these highways meet is busy with cyclists starting their rides.  There are two parking lots for this park, the first a few miles past the Saratoga Gap on Hwy 35 south.  This is the main lot where the ranger station is located.  If you have reservations for the hike-in campground, you'll need to stop here first and get a parking pass.  The parking lot for the trail head is just a bit further down Hwy 35.  When I visited it was the offseason and we had to unlock the gate in order to get access to the lot (the ranger gave us the combination to the lock).  I'm not sure if this is the case in the spring/summer/fall.

The campground is about a 2.5mi hike in from the trail head at the parking area. Although there was a fire road at the campgrounds that looked like it maybe could be used to drive in and drop off gear, I didn't see anybody doing it, so be prepared to carry everything on your back.  In other words, don't expect to get a Yeti cooler full of beer out to the campsites.  

The hike itself is great, offering sweeping views of the Santa Cruz mountains and the Pacific ocean to the west.  There's even a waterfall right at the beginning of the hike.  There are a couple of different trails you can take, but the most scenic one IMO is the one that follows a west facing ridge.  There's a couple of spots where you'll need to do some scrambling up the rock faces, but nothing to worry about.  I wouldn't bring a toddler on it, but anybody older should be able to handle it.

The campsites themselves are typical California State Park "primitive" sites.  There are pit toilets, fire rings, and picnic tables.  Fires are increasingly banned in the dry months (i.e most of the year) in California now, but in January, when I was there they were allowed.  Because carrying firewood on the hike would have been a huge effort, the rangers kindly stocked bundles of wood at the main entrance to the campground with an iron ranger for making payment via the honor system. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although there is a communal water source at the campsite entrance, the water was deemed not safe to drink when I was there, and that had been the case for a while. The water tank apparently needs to be decontaminated.  So, we brought all our water in with us as well as water filters so we could get water from the nearby creeks.  Again, in winter, this isn't a problem. The way the drought has been going for the last decade in all of CA, I'd guess these creeks are running dry by mid May, if not sooner.  If you go in the summer, bring lots of water.

All in all, this is a great getaway for being so close to the megalopolis that is the San Francisco Bay Area.  As the crow flies, you're probably only about 25 miles from San Jose. But you'll feel like you're a lot further away.  And that's the whole point.

Why 4 stars instead of 5?  Please see this explanation of my ratings system.

5 stars - Worth traveling from far distances to visit.  Minimum of 3 night stay recommended in order to fully explore the area. A special place worthy of repeat visits. Example: Yosemite, Tahoe, Plumas

4 stars - Worth visiting if you're in the area as part of a larger trip.  For locals (i.e those within a few hours driving distance), a top tier spot, one that you'll visit regularly, maybe even annually. Example: Pinnacles, Lopez Lake, Lake Sonoma

3 stars - Convenient if you're a local. If coming from out of state, a convenient "home base" for nearby attractions, but not particularly beautiful or scenic itself. Example: Flying Flags RV Resort (Buellton), KOA Petaluma

Under 3 stars - Don't bother. It's an area that's not really worth exploring, or you can find something better in the same area.

great campsite! be careful driving up the windy road and watch for the many cyclists. going up/down with you. 

driving in was very easy; parking is right next to the site. the campsite itself was beautiful - panoramic views of the east bay area. i could recognize walnut creek, lafayette, danville and san ramon through the binoculars. site was clean, but the ground itself was very rocky. irritating that there wasn't really any level spots to set up the tent, so sleeping on a slant was a real treat (sarcasm). weather was very mild during the day; not too hot, nor too cold. nights were bearable in the high 50s, and by late night (cuz i kept waking up because of slanted sleeping), but felt like low 40s and slightly windy. make sure you bring thermals and a warm sleeping bag. sleeping pad is a definite must on the sharp rocks; be careful when stepping around in the tent with just socks on. 

drought meant that flushing toilets were all locked.. as were the showers.. but from what i heard the "chemical toilets" (aka porta-potties) were an adequate substitute. water access had been shut off as well, so make sure you bring plenty of your own for washing and drinking. 

critters - we didn't encounter any during our stay. no racoons, bears, mice, rats.. nada. just a ton of pincher bugs everywhere. not even many flies! we had those spinning fly deterrent things, though. maybe those really DO work? 

ALSO because of the drought - NO WOOD FIRES ALLOWED. total/complete bummer to camp without a campfire. gas stoves and lanterns were permitted, though.

We hiked up to Juniper campground from the Clayton side. The sites in the teens have less overhead shade but more privacy than those of higher numbers. The sites closest to the driving road/entrance/overlook will have the potential to be downwind of the bathroom, unfortunately.

The campground is a dry campground - as in no alcohol.

That said, we loved our site #15, and enjoyed the privacy it provided, plus the views (if you stand on the table or are tall). We didn't encounter critters. We had some trouble staking down on the rocky dirt. 

This is a good campground to explore the rest of the summit areas, plus Rock City.

This was a long family camp trip in an amazing location. Our campsite was a walk-in, fairly secluded spot partially up a steep hill. There were only a handful of spots on that pathway, so there weren't many neighbors. Camp had a picnic table, fire ring, bear box, & lots of nearby trails & paths for exploring. Toilets with showers, and dishwashing stations were nearby as well.

The highlight of this campground is the ample opportunity for wandering. There are many trails, easy walks through ancient redwoods, moderate trails to beautiful waterfalls, and tougher trails for dedicated hikers.

At the lodge area, there's a store, restaurant, and gift shop, plus educational programs, family events, and community campfires. The kids went on a guided hike to become junior rangers, which gave the parents some free time in the afternoon.

It's an amazing place to be, and we definitely need to spend more time there.

Henry Coe State Park is easily accessible from the San Francisco Bay Area for a weekend getaway or short camping trip.

The Coe Ranch campground has several tent-only campsites that can be reserved online ($8 transaction fee, $20/night), and the campground has parking for vehicles in a small parking area ~20-100 feet from the campsites. Campsites at this campground are aesthetically pleasing, with oak and pine trees around the perimeter of the campground, and there are scenic views of oak woodlands and the valley below. The picnic benches are conveniently located and provide a nice space for eating while camping at the site. Toilets are easily accessed from the campsites. Campfires are allowed in the fire rings only during non-fire season (no campfires during summer months). Dogs are allowed at the Coe Ranch Campground.

Henry Coe SP has many great hiking opportunities, with beautiful wildflower displays in March and April, and also numerous opportunities for enjoying the beauty of the plants and wildlife seen along the hiking trails which are very accessible from the campground. Near the Coe Ranch campground there is a camp book store, which has some items for sale, including many field guides to wildlife and plants in the park. When the store is open, there is often a ranger available to answer questions about the park.

My only compliant is that at the site we stayed at (CR005) the ground is quite compacted, so if you do not have an adequately thick sleeping pad, the ground may be uncomfortably hard to sleep on. Normally I have no trouble sleeping on the bare ground at campsites with a thin sleeping pad, so this was surprising. Bringing an extra pad may be a good idea if you are prone to sleep problems when the ground is too hard.