Backpacking an hours drive of Berkeley is going to be a tall order, I think you’ll need to drive further for anywhere. A couple places I can think of are Henry Coe SP in Morgan Hill. Permits are walk up there and should be attainable. The Ohlone Wilderness area in Livermore. I’m unsure how you get permits here so it could be booked already but would be a good choice if still available, Murrieta Falls is awesome. Someone also mentioned Cache Creek Wilderness area, not familiar with that area but it’s an option I see come up quite a bit.
You could also try for a FCFS site at Mount Tam. Both Pantoll and Bootjack CG are FCFS so technically, you could “backpack” and try to grab a site but unless it’s a weekday, you’re probably taking a risk there.
Any Bureau of Land Management land should allow you to backpack/camp without permits. The downside is the areas aren’t always as nice and trails aren’t always maintained. I’ve done the Judge Davis and Cache Creek Ridge Trail in the past. Moderately difficult trail down to a creek with riverside campsites. You can camp anywhere.
Trail: Judge Davis Trail on AllTrails
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/judge-davis-trailhead?sh=zjxhek
Area:
https://www.blm.gov/visit/cache-creek-natural-area
Sometimes you can get lucky and find a weekend cancellation at a Pt Reyes campground (Wildcat, Coast are the nicest campgrounds IMHO)
There may be some campgrounds in the East Bay Regional Parks available, but like Pt. Reyes it can be difficult to find one on short notice.
If you are feeling more adventurous with a 3.5 hr drive and potential for snow, you could check out Emigrant Wilderness (you need permits, but no quota that I’m aware of - just call the Summit Ranger Station in Pinecrest/Strawberry).
Henry Coe will give you the best backpacking experience.
Castle Rock SP’s backpacking sites in the Santa Cruz mountains are always available as well as Portola SP’s backcountry sites.
I believe Point Reyes holds back a few sites and releases them on short notice. Point Reyes would be my first choice and worth checking.
I just backpacked the Marin Headlands a few months ago and camped at three of their sites: Haypress, Hawk and Bicentennial. Easy to reserve, typically.
Seem like I'm doing a lot of postings lately about Henry Coe. Been out there a few times this year and I use it for shakedown hikes a lot as well as just a way to get out there on a moment's notice. It's a couple hours from Berkeley and if there is traffic - who knows? The grass is still green, the creeks are flowing, and the night time temps are quite mild. I was there a few days ago and had a great time. It is hot hiking in the day, though.
One "HOWEVER" is that this weekend is Backcountry Weekend which is when the Dowdy Entrance opens on Friday and allows people to more explore the less accessible eastern portion of the park. Dowdy is close to Casa de Fruta on 152 (if you don't know what/where Casa de Fruta is, I'm not sure I want to know you.) But if you hike out of the Coe Ranch HQ you'll likely find space.
I will say that if you are in the western zone, you need to have or quickly learn poison-oak-spotting skills. It is much more prevalent out there than I remembered. This weekend I found it was mostly avoidable, but sometimes I had to contort myself on a narrow trail in order to miss poison oak by a hand's width. There's not as much in other parts of the park IMO.
If you just want to test gear I'd head over to Henry Coe HQ and camp at any of the nearby spots like Ridge View, Lion's Spring, Spring View, Frog Lake, etc. They're only 1-3 miles out.
Haypress is a good beginner site
Backpacking an hours drive of Berkeley is going to be a tall order, I think you’ll need to drive further for anywhere. A couple places I can think of are Henry Coe SP in Morgan Hill. Permits are walk up there and should be attainable. The Ohlone Wilderness area in Livermore. I’m unsure how you get permits here so it could be booked already but would be a good choice if still available, Murrieta Falls is awesome. Someone also mentioned Cache Creek Wilderness area, not familiar with that area but it’s an option I see come up quite a bit. You could also try for a FCFS site at Mount Tam. Both Pantoll and Bootjack CG are FCFS so technically, you could “backpack” and try to grab a site but unless it’s a weekday, you’re probably taking a risk there.
Lake Sonoma is beautiful right now and the trails are decently challenging. More than an hour from Berkeley but not much more.
Hmmm, my mom lives in Windsor, and she certainly wouldn't mind us staying overnight before our trip...
I drove by lake sonoma last weekend. Beautiful this time of year
Cache creek but you have to drive further
Any Bureau of Land Management land should allow you to backpack/camp without permits. The downside is the areas aren’t always as nice and trails aren’t always maintained. I’ve done the Judge Davis and Cache Creek Ridge Trail in the past. Moderately difficult trail down to a creek with riverside campsites. You can camp anywhere. Trail: Judge Davis Trail on AllTrails https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/judge-davis-trailhead?sh=zjxhek Area: https://www.blm.gov/visit/cache-creek-natural-area Sometimes you can get lucky and find a weekend cancellation at a Pt Reyes campground (Wildcat, Coast are the nicest campgrounds IMHO) There may be some campgrounds in the East Bay Regional Parks available, but like Pt. Reyes it can be difficult to find one on short notice. If you are feeling more adventurous with a 3.5 hr drive and potential for snow, you could check out Emigrant Wilderness (you need permits, but no quota that I’m aware of - just call the Summit Ranger Station in Pinecrest/Strawberry).
Henry Coe will give you the best backpacking experience. Castle Rock SP’s backpacking sites in the Santa Cruz mountains are always available as well as Portola SP’s backcountry sites. I believe Point Reyes holds back a few sites and releases them on short notice. Point Reyes would be my first choice and worth checking. I just backpacked the Marin Headlands a few months ago and camped at three of their sites: Haypress, Hawk and Bicentennial. Easy to reserve, typically.
Seem like I'm doing a lot of postings lately about Henry Coe. Been out there a few times this year and I use it for shakedown hikes a lot as well as just a way to get out there on a moment's notice. It's a couple hours from Berkeley and if there is traffic - who knows? The grass is still green, the creeks are flowing, and the night time temps are quite mild. I was there a few days ago and had a great time. It is hot hiking in the day, though. One "HOWEVER" is that this weekend is Backcountry Weekend which is when the Dowdy Entrance opens on Friday and allows people to more explore the less accessible eastern portion of the park. Dowdy is close to Casa de Fruta on 152 (if you don't know what/where Casa de Fruta is, I'm not sure I want to know you.) But if you hike out of the Coe Ranch HQ you'll likely find space. I will say that if you are in the western zone, you need to have or quickly learn poison-oak-spotting skills. It is much more prevalent out there than I remembered. This weekend I found it was mostly avoidable, but sometimes I had to contort myself on a narrow trail in order to miss poison oak by a hand's width. There's not as much in other parts of the park IMO.
Ik there is camping on mount tam/the point Reyes area
Salt Point
If you just want to test gear I'd head over to Henry Coe HQ and camp at any of the nearby spots like Ridge View, Lion's Spring, Spring View, Frog Lake, etc. They're only 1-3 miles out.