Campground Review: Uvas Canyon County Park

This winter has been warm and dry so far.  Not great for our drought conditions, but great for winter camping!  When we lived on the east coast, I never wanted to go outside in winter, let alone camp.  I remember one snowy camping trip in West Virginia in October. I was pretty mad at Mr. H for that one.  But winter camping in the Bay Area of California is considerably more comfortable, even with kids!  We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend a night in the great outdoors.  We wanted to keep it easy - something near by.  SV Toddler was raving about Uvas Canyon County Park on her blog recently, so we were excited to see that there was a campground there as well.

Hiking the Waterfall Loop Trail

Uvas Canyon is definitely a hidden-gem.  Tucked a few miles off main roads in a canyon south of San Jose, the park features hiking trails, campsites, and beautiful waterfalls.

While we were there we did the Waterfall Loop Trail, an easy 1-mile trek with beautiful scenery.  We also completed the Knibb's Knob trail, even though the map warned us that the trail was "STEEP".  They were not kidding!  The trail goes strait up and down on a dusty, exposed fire-road.  I wouldn't recommend it for families. It was a pain hiking downhill with Lil' H in the pack, very hard on the knees!

Don't let the picture fool you, the Knibb's Knob trail was VERY steep!

The campground itself is rustic - there are no hookups for RVs.  However the sites are spacious and the bathrooms and showers are the cleanest I have ever seen at a campground.  If you do have a trailer or pop-up camper, aim for sites 19-22.  The rest of the sites are best for tents only.  All of the sites have a fire-ring and firewood is available for $7.60 per box from the rangers.  EDITED to add: There are several water spigots with potable water throughout the campsite, so you don't need to worry about bringing your own water.

Lil' H's favorite part of this campground was the rock retaining wall near our campsite.  She threw on her rain boots (which she called rock-climbing shoes) and climbed up the wall over and over and over.  The paths nearby were nice and smooth so definitely bring a bicycle to keep your kids entertained in camp!

Overall, I'd say this is an ideal campground for first-time campers in the Bay Area.  It's close enough to home that if anything goes wrong, you can be home in a few minutes.  But with so many great trails and things to do, who would want to go home?

Pros: Uvas Canyon is only a 45-minute drive from Silicon Valley.  The campsites and amenities (clean bathrooms and showers, fire ring in every camp site) are a great value for the price - only $12 per night!  Availability depends on the season - book a site in winter, spring, or fall to avoid the summer rush.  This place is beautiful year round.

Cons: It is a rustic campground with no hookups available.  Because the park is in a canyon, daylight hours are truncated, however this would be a Pro in the warm summer months.  The campground would stay shady most of the day.

Have specific questions about Uvas Canyon?  Let us know!