Del Valle Regional Park

We stayed here on Columbus Day Weekend. It was pretty crowded on the weekend; it appeared that many people from the area came here for boating and camping on the weekend. Most of the campsites were taken by car campers. On Sunday, the campground changed completely; it was tranquil. We saw a rafter of turkeys in the morning and a few deers.
The campsites have a paved pad, needed some leveling, but mostly ok. It had 50AMP, water, and sewer hookup. The campground has showers and clean restrooms. There is no cell reception here. We had to drive a couple of miles out every day to check messages.
There are many good hiking trails here. We hiked a part of the Ohlone Trail that starts from near the entrance of the campground. There are picnic areas at the beach of Del Valle lake, lots of fishing boats, kayaks, SUPs. You can also rent boats here.

We stayed in this campground in June. It was hot but we expected that. We also booked late so the site we got would not have been our first choice for two reasons. 1: Site 8 is next to the only bathrooms for the upper loop. 2: The noise from the lower loop is amplified for the upper loop. I knew entire families names but never met them.

After scouting the RV sites we would choose site 32 for a return visit. We would also visit in late fall/winter/early spring for optimum temperature reasons.

All this being said the area is truly lovely. The lake and surrounding hills also offer a variety of activities. You can swim, kayak, SUP, boat, and hike for days here and never get bored. There is also a lot of wildlife. We saw turkeys (with babies :), deer, a fox, and tons of birds including Western Grebes, Stellar Jays, White Breasted Nuthatches, Western Bluebirds, Yellow-Biller Magpies, Red Shoulder Blackbirds, Nutall's Woodpeckers., Ruddy Ducks..and more! Oh and one day a half dozen cows visited the grassy area right near our rig. Watching our cat see cows for the first time, priceless!

Big park with some trails and lots of water activities.

No generators allowed and they remind you with a sign at every camp site.

The full hookup sites are decently level for the most part. The non hookup sites get the nicest locations. There is a dump station near the campground kiosk for campers using the dry spots.

Wild turkey, herons, deer were present. Many spots had enough shade to mess with solar panels but some had clear sky views.

There is no internet service anywhere in the park. I don’t know why anyone would think there is. We not only tested at&t and Verizon with a 30db booster but we also discussed it with park personnel. The last place to get service is on top of the hill you crest as you drive into the park, a few miles from the campground and lake and everything else. There are pay phones in the campground. Fifty cents for a couple of minutes minutes as of June 2019.

The camp store including the option to buy firewood was closed two days a week when we were there. Seems like at other times it may be closed four days a week, probably depending on the season.

They have flush toilets and showers and potable water for folks that need that. 45 bucks a night gets you full hookups including 50amp service.

Lots of fire restrictions and moderate alcohol restrictions.

The handful of cabins appear to have air conditioning and be of relatively recent vintage but we didn’t go inside any of them.

Summer temps easily exceed 100 degrees at times. And on a weekday you may have a whole loop to yourself. Weekends tend to be completely full. Definitely call ahead! Even a Sunday night was full when we were there.

**We stayed in early April during the super bloom of 2019 so all of our photos are of the area lush and green, it appears from others photos that this is NOT the norm.**

First let me say, ask for any site but site #2!! It happens to be the only non-level site in the entire campground. It took every leveling square and wood block that we had to bring our 25ft trailer just into level. Aside from that the sites are spacious, though there is no privacy as the entire campground has wide open views.

We saw deer and turkey in the large central grass area to the side of our rig and many turkey vultures near the lake. The campground is nestled at the bottom of a small valley so there aren't any views except the immediately hillsides. You can easily walk to the swimming area of lake via a trail just past the group campsite.

The ranger advised us upon entry that the sunsets from the hilltops just before the park entrance are spectacular and that we should make it a point to head back out to see it. Wow was she right! We drove up and parked along the side of the road on the wide shoulder. We sat atop the cab of our truck and took in the incredible view of the lush green valley and the bright purple clouds. Truly the highlight of our single nights stay.

There campground covers a large area and I think that along with 3 other RVs, we were the only ones there. The RV spaces are separated enough that the other RVs in sites 24, 25, 26 felt like they were quite a ways away.

If you have a large vehicle, be prepared for a pretty good uphill and then a matching downhill getting in and out of the park. Also, make sure if you go out for the evening that you are back by 10:00pm when the gate is closed. You can always get out at night but not back in. Also, the road through the area we were in is pretty narrow, so if you have a big rig you will have to drive carefully.

There are a lot of ground squirrels, so if you have a dog that likes to hunt like ours, it will have a great time watching all of them. Lots of space to walk the dog as well.

Last but not least, you will get to disconnect from the outside world. No wifi, no cell service. Enjoy!

Del Valle is a nice and spacious campground that attracts tent/car campers as well as RVs and travel trailers. About 15 min from Livermore's winery district up a ridge and then into a valley. Kiss your cell phone reception good bye (which is not a bad thing).

This was our 4th stay, each time we came there with our airstream.

There are several hiking trails starting at the campground and plenty more a few miles away. The lake was not accessible because of some poisonous algae. It looked quite nice from the distance.

There are horse trails as well. 2 years ago we stayed at site 50, which is directly adjacent to the horse trail.

The full hookup sites are spacious (the pull throughs are). Some of the back-ins are on the short side, particularly if your trailer is larger than 20feet. Site 8 is a full hookup site.

Site 8 was plenty of room for our 25FB airstream.

Sprint cell phone: No service here.