Dispersed Camping Near San Jose?

[FrenchOnion]

Hi all! 

We will be in the San Jose area and are look for any places to camp without being in an RV park. We see lots of State and County parks all which close at sunset. Any tips?

TIA

 

[Steph]

San Jose and Dispersed Camping is an Oxymoron 

 

[wagoneer]

good luck with that one, Henry Coe state park. Disperse camping in the silly-cone area ain't gonna happen

 

[BigT]

About the only way you're going to be able to camp for free in SJ is on city streets. You'll see a lot of that in the area.

 

[FrenchOnion]

Haha, I guess my terminology is a little amateur. Thanks for the tips anyhow.

 

[wagoneer]

You will do just fine, the entire bay area is becoming less and less boondock friendly. It's just so built up crowded and unsecure.

 

[MrNoodly]

Depends on how close you want/need to be. You can sometimes snag a spot along Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and Pacifica.

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

It's not free but (if it's still there) there's an RV "park"-ing-lot at the county fairgrounds .If not there I think the next "closest" is in Scotts Valley...on the way to Santa Cruz.

 

[FrenchOnion]

Thanks so much y'all!!

 

[Travelmonkey]

There is BLM land South of SJ near Hollister (2 hrs or so) but it is closed to motor vehicles until October-ish due to fire hazards.  google Panoche Hills BLM.  I can't think of any other area that would be considered dispersed camping.

As stated earlier there are RVs and vans parking in neighborhoods.  I doubt they are being hassled by the police as the SJPD ranks are so depleted.  I think more people are noticing, though, based on more frequent complaints on Nextdoor.com (sort of a neighborhood craigslist type social media app).

 

[USExplorer]

Everyone curb camps in the Bay Area. I did sleep inside my truck for one night along Highway 9 in the hills east of San Jose. In the morning I found out I was camping in the driveway to a boy scout camp. Fortunately there were no activities that day so I wasn't disturbed. However, every pullout on the back roads had a No Camping sign posted on it.

 

[BigT]

Just park on the street in any industrial part of town (I'm talking about SJ, but it could really be any industrialized city in the Bay Area).  
You won't be alone, there will be several other campers, TT's and vans around you.

I know of one street in Mountain that isn't industrial at all (Well, it's along side the CalTrain tracks, but I'm not sure that counts), that has no less than 35 TT's, RV's and vans parked in a long row along the curb, every night.

I've often though if I ever go back to driving coaches for Google, that's where I'll park for the night instead of commuting all the way home.

 

[MrNoodly]

I read this article the other day about the city of Mountain View trying to decide what to do, in a somewhat humane way, about their long-term street campers. So that's one town where you might not get harassed... yet. The trick might be finding ROOM to park.

http://www.mercurynews.com/john-hor...organ-vehicle-dwellers-are-not-new-phenomenon

 

[BigT]

I know of one street in Mountain that isn't industrial at all (Well, it's along side the CalTrain tracks, but I'm not sure that counts), that has no less than 35 TT's, RV's and vans parked in a long row along the curb, every night.

Oooops.  How did I manage to leave out the word "View" in that sentence?  :huh:  

Not sure how much room there would be on any given night.  It does seem pretty crowded.  Fortunately there are countless other streets to choose from in the Bay Area.  Over by the SJ Airport seems to be popular.

 

[FrenchOnion]

Thanks everyone. We haven't been down in San Jose yet, but we found a a place about 15 miles south of Half Moon Bay just passed the lighthouse. Gazos Creek Rd. We drive a 23 ft class C the road is well paved but narrow, there are small pulloffs for cars, exactly 4 miles in is a pull of big enough for us to turn around. We went in a dusk and left early. We also stayed a couple nights at half moon state beach, we opted for no hooks up which cost us $35 a night. We are staying now a couple nights at the rest stop on the 280 near 92. Someone said there is a rule that you're allowed 8 consecutive hours of parking at this rest stop. It sure fills up fast, RVs and cars alike.

 

[MrNoodly]

We are staying now a couple nights at the rest stop on the 280 near 92. Someone said there is a rule that you're allowed 8 consecutive hours of parking at this rest stop.

That's true of all California rest stops.

 

[TrainChaser]

The Santa Clara Fairgrounds has upped its daily fee to $30 / 30-day limit. (When I was there in 1983, it was $8).

 

[KASibson]

Yikes. $30 seems pricey for the fairgrounds.
I live in/near San Jose (Campbell), there's always a number of RVs parked near our apartment complex.
Quite a few behind the Safeway as well.
We even have a couple people that park vans IN our parking lots (gated community) but they are usually only here for a few days at a time. RVs would stick out a lot in our community and probably get asked to leave, but there's a street down the road that has a couple class C RVs parked there on a semi-permanent basis.

 

[Browneye]

We were just up there two weeks ago, our son was interning at Linked-in which was pretty cool.
Anyway, we stayed at Laguna Seca Raceway at the campground and drove up there with the toad. Very nice place to say although it's about $35 a night. Power and water, dump station when you leave. There was no racing events at the track so it was quiet and plenty of spaces. Very nice place to camp. It's about 70 miles from San Jose though.

If you're heading south also consider San Lorenzo in King City. Not free, but a beautiful place to stay and I don't think many folks know about it. It's also 10-15 degrees cooler than Paso Robles.