Hawk 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 · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hawk Campground is located above Tennessee Valley and offers sweeping views of the Marin Headlands. The site is a 2.5 mile uphill hike from the Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot, or a 3.5 mile uphill hike from Miwok Trailhead in the Marin Headlands. Car or RV camping is not allowed. This campground is recommended for experienced backpackers. The hike may be steep, but the views are more than worth it!! Keep reading
Recreation
Tennessee Valley and the Marin Headlands are noted for great hiking, and are often populated by hikers regardless of time-of-year. Consider hiking to Tennessee Beach (4 miles), the Marine Mammal Center (4 miles), Rodeo Beach (4.3 miles), or the Point Bonita Lighthouse (5 miles). Contact the Marin Headlands Rangers at (415)-331-1540 to inquire about a ranger-led program or guided hike during your stay.
Facilities
This primitive campground has three overnight sites that accommodate up to four guests each. Water must be packed in, and trash must be packed out. There is no water available at this campground - campers must bring any water necessary for drinking, cooking, etc. Each site has a tent pad, a food locker, and a picnic table. There is one port-a-john. There is limited cell service at the campground, and no cell service at either of the recommended parking areas (Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot or the Miwok Trailhead parking area.)
Natural Features
Hawk Campground sits atop of the rolling landscape of the Marin Headlands, within a biodiverse coastal scrub landscape. While the campground itself is situated under a cluster of Monterey cypress and pine, the undulating hills leading up to it are dotted with manzanita, coyote brush and sagebrush. Raptors frequently soar overhead, and deer, coyotes, foxes and bobcats share the landscape with campers. The geology that underlies the Marin Headlands and Tennessee Valley is unique and world-renowned; for example, the outcrops of radiolarian chert that line the trails are frequently admired by visitors from near and far. There are multiple black sand beaches within hiking distance of the campground. Temperatures are mild year-round. Expect lows from 50-55 degrees and highs from 60-65. Fog is prevalent in the summer months from May-Sept. It is best to bring clothing that can be layered. Lightweight summer clothes are rarely comfortable to wear at Hawk Campground.
Nearby Attractions
The San Francisco Bay Area has no shortage of fun and interesting things to do and see. The 150-year-old Point Bonita Lighthouse (a secret jewel of the Bay Area) and the historic Cold War era Nike Missile Site are just a 5-minute drive from the Miwok Trailhead parking area or a 20-minute drive away from the Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot or. Awe-inspiring Muir Woods National Monument, with its old-growth coastal redwood forest and numerous hiking trails, is a 25-minute drive. Mount Tamalpais State Park, with hiking and sweeping views of the Bay Area, is another 10 minutes past Muir Woods. Within the Marin Headlands, consider visiting the historic Battery Townsley, the Point Bonita Lighthouse, and Nike Missile Site SF-88.
Charges & Cancellations
Refer to Recreation.gov's Rules & Reservation Policies . 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. Bring your own hand sanitizer and hand soap.
Reservations can be made up to 3 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 Hawk 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. There is a maximum of 3 vehicles for each site. Be prepared to hike over 2 miles to the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
The Parking area is separate from the actual campsites. This is a walk-in, Tent Only facility. No RVs or car camping is allowed.
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.
Campground Quiet Hours are between 10 PM and 6 AM. Please be respectful to others.
No wood or charcoal fires allowed; gas camp stoves are permitted.
Pets are prohibited, only trained service animals are allowed.
Hammocks tied on trees or structures are not permitted. Only free standing hammocks are allowed.
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 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Portable Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Cell signal
- Little or none
- Stay limit
- 3 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Beach, Coast
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Hiking
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- Spotty
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 37 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 Tue, Oct 20. 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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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's Rules & Reservation Policies. 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 · 6.1 mi · 24 of 24 site-nights open
- Point Reyes National Seashore CampgroundPoint Reyes National Seashore · 20 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
Haypress CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 1.5 mi
Bicentennial CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 1.6 mi
Kirby Cove CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 2.0 mi
Rob Hill Group CampgroundGolden Gate National Recreation Area · 4.6 mi
Aquatic Park Cove, Black Point Overnight Anchoring, Sailing Vessels only (auxiliary engine OK)6.1 mi
Wildcat CampgroundPoint Reyes National Seashore · 17 miFrom San Francisco (traveling north)
Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and continue on the US-101 N. Take exit 445B toward Mill Valley/Stinson Beach. Continue straight until you can turn left onto Tennessee Valley Road. This road will dead-end at the Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot. From here, locate the white service gate near the stables and hike up Marincello Trail to the Hawk Camp Trail.
From Marin (traveling south)
From US-101 South, take exit 445B toward Stinson Beach. Turn right on CA-1 and continue straight until you can turn left onto Tennessee Valley Road. This road will dead-end at the Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot. From here, locate the white service gate near the stables and hike up Marincello Trail to Hawk Camp.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 76°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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 Augusts are colder than the August 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
Hawk 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 Hawk Campground for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area: I tried to camp at Hawk Campground in California and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Hawk 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. Hawk 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 Hawk 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 Hawk 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 Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Jared Huffman, I’m a constituent in California’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Hawk 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. Hawk Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hawk 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 Hawk 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 Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Hawk 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. Hawk Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hawk 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 Hawk 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 Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Hawk Campground, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and couldn’t. All 3 sites at Hawk 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. Hawk Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hawk 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 Hawk Campground (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…a picnic table. There is one port-a-john. There is limited cell service at the campground, and no cell service at either of the…”