Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Santa Rosa, CA

Spring Lake is a local destination for summertime fun and cooling off. This regional park is located on the southeast edge of the city of Santa Rosa and is surrounded on three sides by neighborhoods. That being said, this park is nice and while you won't feel far from civilization, it's a nice spot to spend a weekend.

Connected to Spring Lake Regional Park to the west is Howarth Park, a small city park offering a train ride, carousel, jump house, petting zoo and pony rides. The park also has multiple tennis courts, some trails as well as Lake Ralphine where you can fish, SUP, or bring your own boat. If you are interested in paddling however I would recommend Spring Lake, which is much larger giving you more areas to explore.

Connected to the west of Spring Lake is Trione-Annadel State Park, a wildly popular spot for local mountain bikers. In fact, as a hiker I tend to avoid Annadel because there are so many mountain bikers, many of whom unfortunately ride as if there is no chance of them coming upon a hiker. That said, there are miles upon miles of trails in to explore Annadel State Park.

Camping at Spring Lake is fine, but reminds me of bit of a KOA with the way it’s set up. All campsites are in a couple of small loops centered around bathrooms and showers with most all of the sites being set up for RVs. There are a few tent sites, but it just doesn’t feel like camping to me personally.

Recently they have added cabins which look really cool, but I have not stayed in one yet.

We were safe and enjoyed being in town close to my husband’s ortho while we waited to hear from the testing. That is the positive. The camp hosts here are about as lazy as I’ve seen. They wait until you’ve parked, leveled, slides out and set up until they inform you that you need to park your rig between the ( hardly noticeable) white lines. The sites have weeds, are gravel and most have no shade. But it’s close to Trader Joe’s and Costco. Sonoma county needs to find some camp hosts that would be helpful to the hook up process. Santa Rosa is a lovely town, and even through the COVID pandemic, everyone was wonderful. ( except the camp hosts) Beware.

The campground at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park offers a range of decent sites. There are certainly some that are better situated than others regarding size, shade, and other amenities--but the entire campground is nice. Well maintained, and located in a State Park that is run by a non-profit "Team Sugarloaf". Sonoma Creek runs along the campground and there is a waterfall a short hike away. There are showers for a quarter per minute, if you want to freshen up after a big hike like to the peak of Bald Mt. Visitor's Center has educational displays, maps, and a variety of items for sale. Ice and fire wood available. Each site has a table and fire pit. Great little get away spot that feels farther in the wilderness than it is at all. Close to Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Year-round camping--beautiful in all seasons.

There is also an observatory in the park, one Saturday night per month the hold "Star Parties" and for just $2 you can spend the evening looking through great telescopes and learning about space from experts. Kids are free! It is walking distance from the campground. If you have flashlights that have a red night-vision setting, those are recommended to use there--otherwise they'll give you red cellophane to cover your light so that it doesn't interfere with star viewing.

Along the forgotten coast of Central California along Hwy 1, this small state park offers a great way to explore the area. 

The upper campground is relatively small and was still heavily impacted by 2023-24 winter storms, many downed trees still had some campsites closed in the spring of 2024. Most of these sites would accommodate smaller rigs and tents only. The campground is tucked in between the remaining coastal pines and live oak. The bathrooms were small but tidy with flush toilets and running water, no showers.   We drove through here and then headed to the overflow lot...

If you are in a self-contained vehicle, the most stunning place to camp in this park is the “overflow” camping lot closer to the beach. Here you can camp with a 180 degree view of the ocean and the rolling hills leading to the beach. The lot is completely open to the sky, so solar and satellite internet work great. The only downside is that the closest bathroom and fresh water spigot is either in the day-use area down toward the water, or back uphill at the campground. But the view and scenery were more than worth the minor inconvenience. 

If you’ve got a solar powered system, you could have the most inexpensive California beach vacation around. The rocky beach area is great for wildlife viewing, we saw sea lions, seals, and even the occasional spout from migrating gray whales. While not necessarily good for swimming, the beach area is great for fishing.  Hiking is right from the campground and leads to the north or south from the headland area. 

Come prepared with food and gas!  Supplies will be difficult to come by, as there are only a few small convenience/ general stores and restaurants, in nearby Jenner. The larger grocery outlets will be inland in Santa Rosa about an hour away. This is the price you pay to have a stunning California beach vacation without the normal crowds.

Sugarloaf Loaf Ridge State Park is a great little park and campground. The campground is set around an open meadow, but spaces are a bit close together. Nothing special about the campground, no stunning views or strong flowing river, but there is some great hiking and lots of wineries nearby.

From the campground you can easily hike 20 miles around the park. There are a handful of great loop options and a few great out and backs too. My personal favorite hike in this park is at the bottom of the hill from the campground, but can be accessed by trails and a short road walk, and that is the Goodspeed Trail to Gunsight Rock. From the trailhead the hike is 6.5 miles out and back with 2,444 feet of elevation gain (leaving from the campground adds 2.1 miles and 500 feet of gain to the hike).

There are also several wonderful wineries and tasting rooms within a couple miles of the park located around the town of Kenwood. Kenwood also has a few great restaurants and a small market for resupplying. If you drive a bit further to Santa Rosa you can pick up anything you could possibly need.

October 2017 Fires: The park experienced severe damage with almost 80% of the park being burned. As of today, seven months after the fires, some trails in the park remain closed. While the landscape has changed dramatically, the fires have provided an interesting new perspective to the park. Watching the landscape recover from an intense forest fire is very interesting.