H. Dana Bower Rest Area Northbound

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.

You won't find anything close to the city of San Francisco with a free overnight parking spot. This is immediately north of the Golden Gate Bridge on Hwy 101. Very busy with tourists most hours of the day. It is legal to park overnight here. A car or van would be best, not sure if it could accommodate a class C or class A. Plenty of signs warning about thefts from cars. Bathrooms open 24 hours.Can be windy at time. Total boondocking, no services. Only accessible from north side, so if you are coming from the north you must go into the city and return on north 101.