H. Dana Bower Rest Area Northbound

This rest area is amazing! Lots of space to park on the north bound side of the 101.
Some road noise but it’s muffled on the farthest side of the ready area. Well lit and fairly clean bathrooms.
It’s a fabulous place for an overnight. Safe and gorgeous views to drink your coffee to in the morning before hitting e road again.
Good place for the pooch to take a nice walk too.

Epic!! Sheriffs circling frequently around the clock to make us feel safe, but they never stopped near us or asked us to move on, despite our staying 2 full nights quite happily. The first night was a little noisy from what sounded like dumpsters being wheeled around in the wee hours (??) and the 2nd night was verrry blustery (couldn’t even see the bridge in the morning!), but the first 2 days were simply marvelous. Beautiful view of the bridge, which we walked across multiple times. Great spot to meet strangers from all over the world. 🗺 😊

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.