Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area

We stayed here as a cheap option for getting into SF (around March 13-19) and for that it was great.

It is muddy, loud (the rec. vehicles can drive directly in front of the sites and the tracks are directly behind, they start early and end late) but we knew all before going. It was louder on the weekend. But people were having tons of fun.

Bathrooms are ok. Not the greatest. Access is easy on mostly paved roads, until you get there and rangers were friendly.

No hook ups, just cheap, dry camping.

Great location in the middle of California. We used this as a base to visit the coast as camping is scarce and expensive. It’s dry camping but showers are decent. Cell signal is decent. Close to Livermore which is a nice town. This is a motor cross recreational area so it gets very loud with bikes on the weekends. As it should! Can be dusty.

Only spent $10 and I got to choose my own shaded campsite, equipped with a pergola, picnic table, fire pit, grill and garbage. Multiple bathrooms on site, all with running water and electricity. Showers were only 50c for 5 minutes!
Staff made constant rounds around the park to make sure everything was clean and guests were happy. Felt very safe as a solo woman camper. Would have stayed longer if I didn’t have to keep driving!

We were here in February on a weekday so was really mellow and quite. I could see the place being busy and loud during the summer months and weekends due to it being close to the city and is a motor sports park. The restrooms were nice though, and had showers if needed. For 10 bucks a great spot to stay for a night before heading into the Bay Area.

We camped here to get as close as we could to the bay area to have our truck serviced. We did not make a reservation. Campsites were great - nice and flat, all had bear boxes, firepits, grills, picnic tables, trash cans, and shade structures. There were also flush toilets (included) and showers (quarters required). When we arrived in the evening, there was not a soul around and there wasn't any cell phone reception at all (AT&T and Verizon tested), both of which were unexpected but fine. Overall, location as good of a proximity to the bay area as you could get and it did the job for us!