H. Dana Bower Rest Area Northbound

One of the only free sites to legally sleep overnight around SF. Stayed for two nights and both were very different. Friday night was ok, somewhat loud with ppl visiting the bridge but mostly quiet enough to sleep. Bathrooms were clean enough to use but not the best. Saturday night was a whole different feel. I woke up at 1am to someone playing loud music out of the car and what seemed to be a parking lot party. I’m not sure how long it lasted as i fell back asleep but in the morning the bathrooms were destroyed beyond being able to use them. I did like that a cop circled here every so often. Overall it wasn’t the worst and I think it’s safe to stay at but could be a loud or uncomfortable night.

Beautiful view of golden gate bridge. Amazing sight to see when waking up and you can walk the bridge, too. Cop car is at front of rest stop. A lot of tourist but can get calm late night. Entrance to rest stop was closed off while I was leaving so I’m not sure how they decide when to do that. Bathrooms are pretty bad. The worse I’ve see. Good cell service.

We came on a Tuesday afternoon to see the sunset. We made clam chowder with sourdough bread and enjoyed some wine while taking in the incredible view. Dress warm as it’s almost always windy. The fog came in later super thick too. Next morning we walked across the Golden Gate. Highly recommend. Hint don’t park for the night where the lookout is unless you want to hear people and cars all night. If you find a spot on the East side it will be a little quieter from the bridge traffic noise. We actually slept very well even though there is a lot of noise. Just before we turned in for the night I counted 7 vehicles staying the night. No problems for us. The California Highway Patrol and the Golden Gate Bridge Patrol cars drive through often.

At first this location seems a bit concerning. Signs posted everywhere saying don’t leave your valuables in your car - and with Covid19 right now the visitor center and the 1 connected building with restrooms was closed. That left only 1 smaller restroom building open, and while it was very close to the larger one, it was badly tagged inside giving the impression that a lot of inconsiderate people frequent this particular rest area. Combine the tagging with all the warning signs and one starts to wonder if this is truly “Safe” or not. Appearances count.

That said - we had a comfortable and safe night there. We arrived at 4 pm and found the RV spots which was posted. We enjoyed the incredible views of the bay - entire city - and Golden Gate Bridge which you can walk across if you want. It’s an amazing experience to be able to enjoy that location, but I will say that while it was safe for us - it’s appearance does give the impression of sketchy. Maybe the city wants that so more people don’t hang out there - maybe their budget has been cut back. It’s a “no brainer” at the very least to stop and visit - have lunch / dinner - take a nap and move on - but like I said, doing an overnight like we did will at least initially likely give you pause. Depends on your comfort level for certain. But we would do it again without hesitation now that we did it and never felt unsafe during our entire night.

Open for over nights as of June 19th 2020.
Relatively level, plenty of spaces, good cell reception, fun hike down to the crabbing docks way beneath the bridge.
Amazing proximity to San Fran and Muir Woods.
Four or five other rigs parked nearby.
A tow truck driver told me the police will only bother you after about forty eight hours.
Not too noisy overall.
Did not check out the toilets.
Felt very safe.

PROS-

You would pay hundreds of dollars in a hotel to get a view like this, the city, the water, the bridge. I couldn’t even fall asleep because I was enjoying the view so much

Lots of other RVs and vans camping here as well. Felt pretty safe and friendly although theft seems to be a consistent issue

It is free and legal to stay especially super close to the city

CONS-
Noisy until much later in the night with lots of car head lights because everyone is pulling in to look at the bridge. Use curtains and ear plugs.

The bathrooms are pretty icky. I was lucky to find one nice stall.

If you’re heading back and forth from SF you have to pay a toll each way, about $8 so technically it isn’t completely free to stay

This was a perfect location for our 32 foot camper. We parked on the backside of the lot. The view of San Francisco is amazing. It was a little noisy but we just ran our fan at night and didn’t bother us. We parked one evening and rode our bikes the next morning across the Golden Gate bridge to San Francisco and spent the day there. Came back in the evening and spend a second night with the no issues! It was really nice. Added bonus of being free. The weather was perfect and almost a little chilly in late June.

No problem first night we stayed.
On the second day, it was 7h30 pm. We witnessed a car theft (window smashed) 2 parkings next to ours. In broad daylight. The couple just went to the toilet for 5 min. Still shocked. At your own risk.
View of the GGB was great. Accessibility only by going northbound on GGB.
Toilet ok-ish.
Highway patrol doing frequent tours.

We stayed 2 nights then back for another night a few days later end of Feb 19. Site has easy access coming across GG Bridge but can’t head back across without heading north first to do loop around. This time of the year the tourist numbers are pretty low & finding a park was never a problem nor was noise an issue. We left the van for full days twice as we ventured into SF and didn’t have any vandalism issues. Although there are toilets available they are pretty unclean

Views can’t be beaten as soon as you get up in the morning. Also good base point to walk Marin headlands to find a great spot for the evening photo of GGB.