Hi,

We're hoping to take our 2 kids (3, 7) on their first camping experience this summer so something relatively near by to try it out would be great. (We live on the peninsula near San Francisco) Any suggestions on good camp sites? Somewhere with good amount of nature, shades, not bug infested (the 7 year old gets severe allergies from mosquito bites). I was looking at the CA state park website. Has anyone camped at Portola Redwoods SP? Thanks.

Portola SP is great. I haven't camped there, but I have picnicked and day hiked there a bunch.

Big Basin is another good park - they have nice campgrounds there.

If you don't need showers, Butano is one of my favorite parks. They have bathrooms with flush toilets and running water, so not totally roughing it.

Thank you november_moon.

Memorial Park between La Honda and Pescadero is another good campground, as is New Brighton State Beach, if you want to head to the Santa Cruz area.

New Brighton is another good choice. It is on some bluffs overlooking the beach. Not really a wilderness experience because it is a busy campground right between Capitola and Aptos, but it is great for being close to the beach. An added benefit is that if you don't want to cook out every meal, restaurants are a short drive away

Thank you hazel1 and november_moon.
I think we'll take a trip to the parks you mentioned for day hikes and see how we like it and do back for camping once we've checked them out.

Manresa Uplands is a little south of New Brighton, and it only allows tent camping so it can be much more peaceful. I think it's a more beautiful spot than New Brighton. The picture on its website doesn't do it justice.