L'amore to Travel

My Recommended Public Park Campgrounds

Camping at a County, State, or National Park is typically less expensive than a Hipcamp. Public Park campgrounds are located all over, you just need to know where to find them.

  • County Parks – National and State Parks are normally the first campgrounds reserved; therefore, make sure to check out the local County Park.
  • State Parks – The easiest way to see what State Parks are near where you are going to be is to do a “State Parks” search on Google Maps.
  • US National Parks – All of the National Parks/Forests I have camped at have been amazing.

County Parks

When looking for a place to camp, do not forget to see if there are any county parks. They can be hidden gems not many people know about.

Sanborn Park – Santa Clara County, CA

When I just want to get away or I am looking at trying out new gear, Sanborn Park is where I go. It is 30 minutes from my house and if I forget anything (like sleeping bags) I can run back home and pick it up.

Besides Sanborn Park being close by, I continue to go back to because it is amongst the redwood trees, has great hiking, and some of the sites are spread out and private. If you hike past the campsites, you will be on the Sanborn Trail which takes you all the way to Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean.

Site #30 – 1/4 mile steep uphill hike; but it feels like you have the place to yourself
Site #6 – We wimped out and booked a much lower site.
Sanborn is at the edge of the Redwoods – lots of nature and trees
Testing the new tent
Testing the new camp kitchen
A local Sanborn resident.
Sanborn Site Map with my site preferences
It is a steep climb to the sites. There are carts available; however, I bring my own because it rolls easier
Using tinfoil to deflect heat from the fire

State Parks

To find a State Park, I search for “camping” around a specific town on www.googlemaps.com and it will show me the camping places around the area.

Big Basin – Redwood Forest, California

NOTE – A fire, caused by a lightning strike, raged through here in August 2020. The park is recovering; however, the camp sites are still not available as of May, 2025.

Big Basin is what got me hooked on camping. My first real camping experience was site #86 in the Wastahi campground. It is a 1/4 mile hike; however, this site is on the end and you cannot see any other campsite. It feels like you have the forest to yourself. This site set the standard for what I am looking for in a camp site.

When Wastahi is full or I want to be lazy. Huckleberry is a nice alternative. I back in my car (except for the walk-in sites) and can just unload into the site.
What started it all. #86 – you have to hike all of your gear in, but it is worth it.
Celebrating my 40th at Wastahi #86. Mother Nature decided to dump 2″ of rain while on this trip.
Site #66 in Huckleberry. First time I camped where the car was right there. I did not have a camp site on either side of #66.
Entrance to Huckleberry #54. Large site and tucked away from the rest of the campground
Huckleberry #54 – a little “nook” for my tent.
Why I love Big Basin – it is beautiful!
Can hike to a waterfall – This was in the middle of the summer.
Always look out for nature – this was dew on a spider web.
New Brighton Beach – New Brighton, California

The Pacific Ocean is only steps away! I only camped at New Brighton State Beach for 1 night. The area is very open so do not expect much privacy. To camp on a site right near the ocean, you do have to pay a little more for those sites.

There is little to no trees or bushes to separate the different camp sites. Do not expect much privacy
The reason to camp here is to be right next to the ocean and hear the crashing waves.
Since New Brighton State Beach is on the West coast, you do have beautiful sunsets

US National Parks/Forests

The National Park Service has a great website to download National Park maps for each US national park. It also shows the location of where the National Parks are in which State.

Wyeth Campground – Columbia River, Oregon

Wyeth Campground is located just south of the Columbia River in Oregon. We stayed at Campsite #9; any of the Wyeth Campground sites are a great place to stay.

Site #9 – lots of space and I had privacy from other sites
Plenty of room to set up my cooking space amongst the trees
Mike and I brought our bikes on this trip. It allowed us to bike to Cascade Locks for lunch by the Columbia River.
Since Wyeth Campground did not have firewood; I had to improvise for s’mores
There are lot of hiking trails near the campground
With all of the rain, Oregon has some fantastic waterfalls!
Bridge of the Gods spanning the Columbia River
TRAIN! There were trains going by every 30mins or so.
Another great hike amongst the trees near our camp site
Grand Teton – Colter Bay Campground – Wyoming

When I visited Grand Teton National Park, I stayed at site 328, Loop O, in Colter Bay Campground. I chose this Campground because it is central to Grand Teton and site 328 is on the outside loop. So, even though this Campground has A LOT of sites, I had no one camping behind me.

I situated the RTT to block the view of my neighbors across the way.
The sites are located close together.
Camping in the outside loop means no one is camping behind me.
Back to Grand Teton
Yellowstone – Indian Creek, Mammoth, Slough Creek – Wyoming

When I visited Yellowstone National Park, I broke my trip up into 3 parts – South (hot springs), North (wild animals), and Lamar Valley (wolves). I spent over a week in Yellowstone National Park and it was AMAZING! If I had to stay in one place, it would be Mammoth Campground. The hot spring area would be over an hour away; however, the amount of wildlife I saw from my campsite was fantastic!

Indian Creek Campsite #25. Nice site with room. I have stayed in worse campsites.
Mammoth Campground #45 – Campsite was not very big; however, I picked it for the view.
Slough Creek #10. There is a creek, but not moving very fast so be prepared for mosquitos.
Here is my Mammoth Campground Site #45 view – I had Grizzly, Elk, and Bald Eagles come through the 3 nights I was there.
Elk and calves – 30-40 elk passed my Mammoth campsite
One Elk decided to wander around the Campground and found the WC.
Back to Yellowstone

Canada National Parks

The Canadian National Park Service has a great website that shows you all of the Canadian National Parks. You can use the same website to make a park reservations.

Some of the key differences between US and Canadian National Parks

  • To minimize the spread of insects and disease, the Canadian National Parks have free firewood (in US, you have to pay for it). Take what you need and do NOT bring any with you when you leave.
  • The Banff and Lake Louise National Parks have free, unlimited hot showers! Ahhhh… They are clean; however, there are not many of them so make sure to time it when the showers will be less busy such as early morning or middle of the day.
Tunnel Mountain Village 1 – Banff, Alberta

Tunnel Mountain Village 1 campground has a large number of campsites – 618! The sites are small and close together. I stayed in site H45, and I chose this campground because of the location to Banff National Park.

This is site H45 – it was a very small site, but I was able to make it work. It did rain which is why the rain cover is out over the table.
Canada National Parks have unlimited firewood – just a “little” pile
A Canadian local decided to come by and check out our tent. The birds were very brave and not at all “scared” of humans.
Back to Banff
Miette Campground – Improvement District No. 12, Alberta
  • Link to Miette Campground location
  • Link to Miette Campground reservations
    • For Park, enter “Jasper”, the timeframe you are looking to stay, how large is your party, and what equipment you are camping with. Once you hit “Search”, you will have the option to select Miette as a campground

Because of the devastating fires that tore through Jasper back in 2024, I chose not to stay in “Whistlers” campground. It is very close to central Jasper; however, most of the trees and vegetation are gone due to the fire.

Miette was a little out of the way; however, it was a gorgeous drive, and the sites were large and private. The campsite I stayed in was “D16”.

This is site D16 – it was pouring rain when I arrived, so I had to break out the awning that attaches to the RTT
This view was a short 5-minute drive from my campsite. I was blessed with a beautiful sunset.
Miette Campground does not have showers, so this is the next best thing. It cost ~$10 US for Mike and I to take a nice hot, unlimited shower. It felt so good!
Back to Jasper
Lake Louise Soft-Sided Trailer/Tent Campground – Lake Louise, Alberta

Because of bear activity, if you have a soft sided tent of any kind (including my RTT), you need to stay in the Soft Sided Tent Campground. The entire site is surrounded by an electric fence with a heavy gate to prevent large animals from entering.

A couple of interesting observations about this campground:

  • The campground is not laid out in a simple grid pattern. More than once I had people (as well as myself) accidentally wandering through my site looking for where their site was.
  • Out of the 3 places I stayed in the Canadian Rockies, this Campground had the best walking/wandering trails without having to drive somewhere.
The Lake Louise Soft Sided Tent Campground is surrounded by an electric fence – no big animals will be coming in here.
Campsite I6 is VERY large, although not as private as the Miette Campsite
Another beautiful Sunset over the Bow River. This was walking distance from my campsite.
Back to Lake Louise

Links to find camping spots

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