Williams Hill Recreation Area

The 6 or 8 mile gravel dirt dusty road leading up here is nothing to joke about. I see sharp rocks on the narrow road. Some potholes n uneven dips but we needed a place to sleep. Not bad when u get to CG. 1 vault toilet clean n not stinky yet. Windy n blowing dust. Semi shaded. Nice views of valley below. Saw a prius make it up here.

Positives -
One of a kind sunset views
Quiet - not eerily kind
Near the highway connecting SF
Doable drive up the hill
Fenced designated spots
Cellphone reception
New picnic tables under a canopy/shed

Negatives—
7 miles up a Dirt road is not comforting
Super fine dust. Persistent to get into your lungs. Even if you keep your windows and door sealed somehow it leaks in . If you have a rental RV I would double check if they allow this road.

No water or garbage receptacle . You need to be fully stocked and resourceful if you want to come up here.

Poorly maintained porta toilet. Granted it had 3 rolls of toilet paper but man it was repulsive stench and no water to wash hands

Garbage and plastic thrown around.

Camped here the first weekend in November. After reading the other reviews on this site I thought I'd offer some clarifications.

The road in is dirt, and parts of it are heavily washboarded. However, it is clearly maintained, it's level, and it has no significant ruts or dropoffs to negotiate. Parts of it are exposed rock and could be slippery in the rain. There are two relatively tight turns but both have pulloff areas you could swing into if required. There are a couple of graded areas but not super steep. Mid-size commercial trucks use the road regularly without difficulty. I scouted ahead in my Jeep and then went back and fetched my 20' trailer without any issues. I assume the folks who had concerns about towing something up this road were towing something much larger, or operating much closer to their weight capacity. I feel like even a 2-wheel-drive sedan can probably negotiate the path if you take it slow.

Found the campground nigh-empty on Friday afternoon, but it filled up by Sunday.

In terms of sites -- site #1 is the most private and has the best views and I would _not_ want to attempt to back a trailer in or out of it. It's at the end of a ~30 foot driveway with fences on both sides. If you're camping in a tent or van, it might be your new favorite. Other than that, you'll be choosing between views and solar -- sites on the west side have better views and are shaded most of the day, sites on the east have more trees blocking the view but get full sun. I camped in site #7, which is weirdly large -- large enough that I woke up my last day to find that a camper van had crammed its way into my spot during the night. Hm. #7 is on the far side of the bathrooms from other campsites, so you rarely get foot traffic. Felt very private until someone joined my spot.

Cell service is great, other campers were courteous, there's some noise from dirtbikes and distant target shooting during the day but it's silent (and windy) at night.

Anything exposed on the road in will get covered in fine and sticky dust; the other reviewer who described it as playa-level dust is not kidding. I had to squeegee my windows to be able to see the sunset.

Final note for trailer owners - there isn't a great place to drop your trailer to scout this site, in my opinion. I dropped the trailer on the shoulder off 101 on the road to San Ardo, and it seemed perfectly safe (and a nice guy from the neighboring farm came to see if I needed help) but may be private property, so, be respectful and look for signs.

We were here last year with a Campervan for a few days in October, this year we came back with a tent!

This time we made sure to bring a large rug to tamp down the amount of dust from just getting in and out of the vehicle or tent! It helped prevent dust kick up as well as the following sneezing tremendously.

Site 1 has a private overlook, looks like a lot of clay pigeon shooting shards around. We got to see a beautiful tarantula and respected its space when it’s rear raised up in warning. We had nightly visits from a raccoon who did the rounds of all the campsites (can see the scat at every campsite and around.)

Sunsets and sunrises are spectacular everyday we were here. Temperatures mid to late September was 95F - 75F and late September dropped down to 80F - 55F. We were grateful to have brought both warm weather and chillier weather clothing as well as extra blankets.

Sometimes we were the only campers, and other times it was full. We were very pleased and lucky to have had very friendly interactions and met lovely people.

We went down the mountain every few days to throw our garbage, replenish our water canisters and go food shopping and the road was very manageable in our station wagon.

P.S. one car wash wasn’t enough to remove all the dust. Lol.

We only stayed here one night but would love to go back and spend more time. Don't recommend this place for a one night only stay as it is difficult to get to and you'll have to give your rig a big car wash afterwards. We arrived like at 10 pm and there were plenty of open sites. The campground is clean, well put together and pretty new or recently renovated from what I could tell. All sites are shaded. The dirt road to get there is long and dusty with a few sharp turns as you're reaching the top but 4x4 is not needed in my opinion, unless its wet, but I'm sure that's never the case. The views from the campground are beautiful since you're at the summit. Be ready for dirt bikes to be roaming around all day. Not sure there's much to do up there except relax or ride dirt bikes. Good cellphone service!

Wowza! The drive to get here is NOT easy! Sharp, steep, narrow dirt road. It was rough going, but worth it! Views are incredible, cell service is good, and it’s peaceful! We parked along the road on the way to the official campground area. Had a nice big open area to park and turn around in. Great place for solar! Would not recommend towing on the way up. We’re in a 40’ rig +Prius and drove separately. Too tight of turns otherwise.

Dry camping with decent views & very clean vault toilets. The area is mostly used for 4 wheelers, motorcycles, target shooting. Lots of dirt roads / routes which I use to ride my mountain bike, walks, & running. Quite during the week but insanely busy the Saturday I was there.
I think the road up was about 7 miles on a very narrow dirt road with few places to pass. Relatively smooth except for a bit of washboarding in the first mile or two. I hauled my 16 ft trailer & truck up with ease.