Bicentennial Campground
8Heads up5 park alerts · 3 fires, nearest 3 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:49 UTC
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 3All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Bicentennial Campground is in an ideal location in the Marin Headlands surrounded by a grove of cypress trees. The campground is a great location for those wanting to camp near the city. There is a moderate short hill to climb to/from the campground from the parking area, which means car or RV camping is not allowed. It is downhill to the site and uphill back to the parking area. Keep reading
Recreation
The Marin Headlands is noted for its great hiking, and many trails with scenic views are close by. Rodeo Beach is about 1.5 miles away. Point Bonita Lighthouse and the historic Nike Site are within walking distance.
Facilities
From the parking area, Bicentennial Campground is 200 yards down a moderately steep, packed dirt trail. Many campers carry supplies down from their vehicles in carts or wagons. Bicentennial Campground has three campsites each accommodating up to three guests. Barbecue grills, food lockers and picnic tables are provided. There is no water available at Bicentennial Campground - campers need to bring any water necessary for drinking/cooking/etc. The campground has a portable restroom on site and a pit toilet is located 0.5 miles away at Bicentennial Picnic Area.
Natural Features
The campground is secluded amongst a cypress tree grove and offers great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and city of San Francisco. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (415) 331-1540.
Nearby Attractions
Bicentennial Campground is a short walk from the Point Bonita Lighthouse and the Nike Missile Site. Also close by are some of the many 20th century coastal defense gun batteries and the city of San Francisco.
Charges & Cancellations
Refer to Recreation.gov policy on changes and cancellations . To initiate a refund request more than 7 days after your reservation, call the recreation.gov call center at 877-444-6777.
What the agency tells you
There is no water available at this campground. Campers must provide their own water for drinking, cleaning, etc; bring enough water to last your entire stay. Water is also available at the public restrooms on Field Rd.
Reservations can be made up to 6 months before your arrival and may extend up to 2 days beyond this 6-month booking window. - Only 3 nights per season per camper! This is in order to ensure everyone gets to enjoy Bicentennial Campground.
No further emails will be sent. Your confirmation is your permit. - Please print your confirmation email after reserving a site. Place a copy of your confirmation on the dashboard of each vehicle. A maximum of 3 vehicles for each site.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
The Parking area is separate from the actual campsites. This is a walk-in, Tent Only facility. No RVs or car camping is allowed. The trail from the parking area to the campsites is about 200 yards. The trail is packed dirt and moderately steep most of the way.
Leave No Trace - Do not leave trash at campsite or in food lockers. - Help us keep wild animals wild! Raccoons, deer, coyotes and bobcats frequent the area. Do not feed or approach wildlife; keep area clean of scented items and keep all food items in the food locker until the end of your stay.
Wood fires are not permitted. Gas camp stoves are permitted, as well as the burning of charcoal in the grill provided at each campsite.
Pets are prohibited, only trained service animals are allowed.
Campground Quiet Hours are between 10 PM and 6 AM. Please be respectful to others.
Hammocks tied on trees or structures are not permitted. Only free standing hammocks are allowed.
Check before you grill. Visit the Recreational Fire Regulations page to find out if there are grill restrictions during your stay.
In Case of Emergency call 911 or Park Dispatch at (415) 561-5656.
For more information, call (415) 331-1540 or email us at goga_marinheadlands_info@nps.gov.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 3 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Stay limit
- 3 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Beach
- Biking
- Historic site
- Mountain biking
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 39 km away
- Minimal color
Full this Saturdayread 16:49 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:53 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 3 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 3 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:49 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Refer to Recreation.gov policy on changes and cancellations. To initiate a refund request more than 7 days after your reservation, call the recreation.gov call center at 877-444-6777.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:53 UTC
- Aquatic Park Cove, Black Point Overnight Anchoring, Sailing Vessels only (auxiliary engine OK)San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park · 5.7 mi · 24 of 24 site-nights open
- Point Reyes National Seashore CampgroundPoint Reyes National Seashore · 21 mi · 7 of 102 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:49 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 sites
All 3 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 3 of the 3 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hawk CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 1.6 mi
Kirby Cove CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 2.1 mi
Haypress CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 2.4 mi
Rob Hill Group CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 3.5 mi
Aquatic Park Cove, Black Point Overnight Anchoring, Sailing Vessels only (auxiliary engine OK)5.7 mi
Wildcat CampgroundPoint Reyes National Seashore · 17 miFrom San Francisco (travelling north):
Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and take exit 442 onto Alexander Avenue. This will be the exit after the Vista Point. Continue straight for a few hundred feet, and then turn left onto Bunker Road. Travel through the Baker-Barry Tunnel and continue straight for approximately 2 miles on Bunker Road. Turn left onto Field Road, and drive less than 0.5 miles uphill and make a left turn onto Rathbone Road. There will then be an immediate right onto a one-way road. You will see signs for Bicentennial Camground. Parallel park on the road or park in the small dirt pull-out to the left.
From Marin (travelling south):
From US-101 South, take the last exit before the Golden Gate Bridge onto Alexander Avenue. Turn right at the stop sign and continue straight for about a quarter mile, until you can turn left onto Bunker Road. Travel through the Baker-Barry Tunnel and continue straight for approximately 2 miles on Bunker Road. Turn left onto Field Road, and drive less than 0.5 miles uphill and make a left turn onto Rathbone Road. There will then be an immediate right onto a one-way road. You will see signs for Bicentennial Camground. Parallel park on the road or park in the small dirt pull-out to the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for San Francisco, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 54°F, day 70°F.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Septembers are colder than the September line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Bicentennial Campground is in California’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Jared Huffman (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 4
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The office that runs itGolden Gate National Recreation AreaNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneyJared HuffmanU.S. Representative · California’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Bicentennial Campground for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area: I tried to camp at Bicentennial Campground in California and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Bicentennial Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bicentennial Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Bicentennial Campground as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Bicentennial Campground (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Jared Huffman, I’m a constituent in California’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Bicentennial Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bicentennial Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bicentennial Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bicentennial Campground (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Bicentennial Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bicentennial Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bicentennial Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bicentennial Campground (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Bicentennial Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Bicentennial Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bicentennial Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bicentennial Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bicentennial Campground (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) via campanac.com