How Cheaply Can You Camp in the Bay Area — Without Sacrificing Comfort?

This story is part of How We Get By, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the full series here. 

As the cost of travel continues to skyrocket, with gas and flight prices rising amid the Iran war, even more Californians than usual might be considering camping as a more achievable way to take a vacation this summer.

But as many people discover, the costs of camping can quickly rack up. And once you’ve bought your equipment, acquired the extras and secured those endless groceries, a getaway that originally seemed like the cheapest option can suddenly seem oddly expensive.

As it turns out, it doesn’t have to be. In my role as KQED’s Outdoor Reporter, I talked to local experts and set out to test the cheapest camping trip that would still be fun — and comfortable — right here in the Bay Area.

The quest for cheap camping

My aim: To keep costs under $200 — what a person might spend for dinner and a night at a hotel.

To run this experiment, I had to set some parameters:

• I couldn’t use the camping gear I already owned
• Anything I brought would have to be something your average person might have at home
• Everything else I would have to borrow, rent or buy as affordably as possible

I also brought my partner with me, because camping with others is nearly always more fun.

It would take some creativity, but I did it — and for far less than $200. All told, my weekend adventure came in at around $180.

Keep reading what I learned about camping as cheaply as possible near the Bay Area, and the tips you can use to make your next weekend away as budget-friendly as possible.

Jump straight to:

• Where to find free campsites near the Bay Area
• How to keep costs down when renting camping equipment
• Where to buy (or thrift) cheaper camping supplies

Try reserving a cheaper ‘walk-in’ campsite …

For my night away, I spent $33 on a walk-in campsite — that is, a campsite you have to walk a little way to after parking, as opposed to one where you can pop your tent right next to your vehicle. These are not to be confused with walk-up campsites, which are “first-come, first-served” and can’t be reserved.

I chose a walk-in site because these are usually a few dollars cheaper than drive-up sites. (I even called the reservation office to see if making the $25 campsite reservation by phone could waive the $8 service fee — alas, it did not.)

For the cost of a 5-minute walk with all your stuff, a walk-in site gives you a much more secluded, immersive camping experience. Still, first-time campers may use a regular drive-in site to keep their car close by. Regardless of what you decide, most Bay Area campsites will be in the $30-$50 range per night, including the service fee.

I chose the East Bay’s Anthony Chabot Campground because of its beginner-friendly nature, and the short 35-minute drive from downtown Oakland (even closer if you live in Castro Valley or Hayward). Not only did this hillside spot have plenty of available reservations, but it’s beautiful, too: nestled within eucalyptus trees with a view of scenic Lake Chabot.

And it has hiking trails for all levels — for a relaxed stroll at sunset, we took the easy, mostly flat Towhee Trail, connecting a loop around the campground above Lake Chabot.

… or choose a dispersed site for even cheaper (or free) camping

Want to keep your costs even lower? You can always “dispersed camp” in national forests or other federal land — meaning you’ll pitch your tent outside a developed campground.

Not only is dispersed camping far cheaper — it’s usually free, although certain forests may require a pass that costs a few dollars — it tends to be quieter and doesn’t usually require a permit.

Dispersed camping “kind of brings the benefit of backpacking” while still having your car, said Brian Low, general manager at Club Urban Diversion, a Bay Area-based social club that organizes outdoor trips. “You get into the backcountry away from other people and have a really tranquil experience in the wilderness, but you have the benefit of being able to drive right up to your site and camp there.”

But there is a catch: Most of those campsites don’t have any facilities at all, like toilets or showers, and may not be properly marked on maps. Make sure you know you’re camping legally and not on private property beforehand (apps like Gaia GPS and onX Backcountry can help you navigate).

You can also call the local land management office where you’re trying to camp, usually the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, and ask a ranger or staff member where to camp safely and legally nearby.

Make sure you ask about any local fire restrictions or other regulations. You’ll probably also need a California Campfire Permit, which is free.

Dispersed camping also means you’ll have to:

• Bring water in your car (or a water filter) for the entire weekend
• Expect to pack out your trash (yes, including toilet paper)
• Follow other Leave No Trace principles like camping away from streams …
• … and burying your poop at least 60 inches deep in the ground.

“It does require a little bit more know-how and skill to camp in those places,” Low said. “So it’s not always the most beginner-friendly.”

In short, while dispersed camping will keep reservation costs way down, saving this money might not be worth the stress if you’re more of a beginner camper.

Know the essentials you absolutely shouldn’t cut corners on

Namely, your “big three”: Your tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. These are the essential pieces of gear you 100% need to safely enjoy a night out camping, even if the weather forecast is perfect.

“If you go out and you can’t sleep because you’re freezing cold and you’re shivering all night, and then you wake up, tired and groggy and grumpy, you’re just not going to have fun the next day,” Low said.

Besides a warm, comfortable sleep setup, you don’t technically need anything else to camp. But there are some nice-to-haves, and you can borrow, rent or find them at local thrift stores. Which brings us to …

Borrow from your community (before you invest in your own costly gear)

Camping with friends or family is the easiest way to keep costs down. You can carpool, share tents and other gear — and you’ll probably have more fun, too.

You can also borrow extra equipment from that one friend who has too much or another who can’t make the trip this time. (Full disclosure: I am usually that one friend — I have lent my gear to pretty much anyone who asked. As far as I’m concerned, the more use my gear gets, the better.)

“Lean on your community, friends, family, acquaintances – see if there’s stuff that you can borrow,” Low said. “And then stuff you can’t borrow, see if you can rent it. And then stuff you can’t rent, consider buying it.”

Your local library may also offer rentals for hiking gear that you can check out the way you would a book — all for free. You can also reserve and check out free state parks passes from your library.

If you’re associated with a university, check whether your school has an outdoors club, as these organizations often rent gear for cheap to students and faculty.

For this trip, I borrowed a lawn chair from my roommate. It’s been sitting in our house for a while, and was the perfect way to relax around the campfire — so who cares if it wasn’t an actual camping chair?

How to affordably rent your most crucial gear

If you’re planning on making camping a habit, you may consider buying your “big three” —  tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad — but you’ll want to buy it from a reputable outdoors gear store, advised Low. When you buy from sellers on sites like Amazon, you run the risk of receiving dupes or low-quality gear that hasn’t been field-tested and may not hold up in bad weather.

Once you buy it, good gear can last a lifetime. Case in point: I have used my sleeping bag and pad for hundreds of nights outdoors. And you can trust the recommendations of many outfitters’ salespeople, as they generally don’t work on commission, Low said.

But what if you’re a more casual camper who’s only planning on sleeping in a tent for a weekend or two per year? In this instance, you don’t have to drop hundreds of dollars on new gear — and if you can’t borrow it as above, you can plan to rent it.

For my trip, I rented the big three from Sports Basement in San Francisco, where employees Neil Barbo and Erica Huerta helped me pick up my rentals.

You can make reservations for gear rentals online ahead of time, but in this case, I just walked in to find everything I needed right there in the store.

As Barbo and Huerta showed me, places like Sports Basement offer bundled rental packages for people who want to go all in. But most campers don’t need everything in the package, Barbo said — so if keeping costs low is your priority, forget the bundles and just pick and choose what you need.

The cost of my setup for the weekend was $108 for a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and camping stove. For the stove, I also had to buy fuel — I bought a refillable one, but most single-use cans go for around $10 (and may be found even cheaper at hardware stores).

I hadn’t used the kind of stove I was renting before, so Barbo offered me a demonstration right there in the shop to ensure I’d be able to make dinner when I got to Chabot.

You shouldn’t be afraid of asking rental staff how to use an item, stressed Barbo, because the worst case scenario is spending money to rent something you then can’t figure out how to use.

Another upside of renting, the pair said, is being able to test out different types of gear to see what you do and don’t like before committing to any one brand or item.

“You can kind of figure out, ‘is camping for you?’” Huerta said. “‘Is maybe backpacking more your style?’ There’s different ways to camp, different ways to backpack, and it’s a good way to try out different variations and see what makes you happiest.”

Where to buy or thrift the rest of your camping gear affordably

If you know you want to make camping a habit but don’t want to shell out just yet, online used markets like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are great options.

You can also visit your local thrift store, like Goodwill. For my trip, I went to the Community Thrift Store in the Mission and picked up a small cooler for $3, so I wouldn’t need that entire Sports Basement camping package. For another $3, I also found some solar-powered string lights to hang on my tent at night.

Other items I saw at the thrift store that I already owned but would be great to bring camping were:

• A headlamp and flashlight
• Tons of cookware, utensils, water bottles and Tupperware
• Warm beanies, gloves and sun hats
• Hiking boots and sandals
• Lawn toys like frisbees, inflatable footballs and bouncy balls
• Art supplies like colored pencils and paints
• Board games and books galore

Once I arrived at Chabot, I got chatting to fellow camper Ernesto Carmona, who was there with his family. Lots of their gear was borrowed, said Carmona, but the rest was affordably acquired from places like Costco, Walmart and Target. “As simple as possible is the best way to go,” he said.

“The first time we ever camped, we tried to bring a bunch of fancy stuff, and we were more worried about getting it damaged than enjoying the camping trip,” Carmona said. Instead, he advised bringing things you won’t miss if they get damaged — or stressed out if they get dirty — and particularly suggested a cheap cooler.

“You make better memories that way,” he said.

Carmona even got four or five giant boxes of firewood from Foodmax. He said big box stores fit his needs better than expensive outdoors ones, finding Bass Pro Shop in particular “too purpose-intended.”

And if you’re worried about staying warm at night around the campfire or in your tent, Sports Basement’s Huerta suggested you head to your local hardware store to pick up a space blanket — those shiny Mylar emergency blankets used to prevent hypothermia — for just a few dollars. If you put one of these blankets down on your tent floor under your sleeping pad, it will reflect your body heat back up to you at night.

“It’s such a simple thing and has been such a great saver for a good night of sleep,” she said.

I happened to have one already at home, leftover from a race I participated in years ago, and can attest: wearing mine around the campfire at night kept me extra toasty.

You almost certainly don’t need to buy or rent camping clothes

There’s no need to make this part complicated: You probably already have the right clothes for camping. So just bring whatever is comfortable and that you’re not afraid to get dirty.

If you’re planning on hiking, bring gear for that, including sun protection and walking or hiking shoes. Unless you’re planning a major hike, you probably don’t need hiking boots, as regular tennis shoes will perform just fine.

Always check the weather ahead of time — you might need a rain jacket. And be sure to bring more layers for nighttime, as temperatures in the Bay Area can drop dramatically when the sun goes down. A pair of gloves and a beanie go a long way – and can be easily thrifted, if you need to pick some up.

Really worried about being warm at night? Bring a hard-sided Nalgene bottle, if you own one, and fill it with boiling water before bed to act as a space heater in your sleeping bag.

Camp food can be as cheap as you’d like

For this trip, I spent just $15 at the grocery store for food for two, supplemented by a few pantry items from home (more on that below) — and found we had plenty of food to enjoy during our stay.

We purchased buns, hot dogs and grilled zucchini for dinner and brought instant oatmeal packets and instant coffee from home for breakfast to keep things cheap and easy.

You could easily pack more involved fare, since preparing a somewhat time-consuming meal can be an intrinsic part of the fun when camping. But if you don’t care about making a big meal, some of my go-to cheap and easy camping meals are instant ramen, instant mashed potatoes and boxed mac and cheese — which are all around a dollar at stores like Grocery Outlet.

And if you’re not dead set on making s’mores, a simple mug of hot chocolate and tea can be a more budget-friendly campfire treat.

My partner and I also purchased a $10 bundle of wood at the campground to make our campfire. For extra thriftiness, we used our paper grocery bag as a firestarter.

Remember: You can bring a ton of stuff from home

While I prefer having a headlamp in a campsite, you can always bring an emergency flashlight from home or use your phone as a flashlight. Just remember, you may not be able to charge it, so airplane mode might be your best bet this trip.

And you can skip the fancy camping cookware. While I rented a Coleman-style camping stove from Sports Basement, I brought the pots and pans we used for meals right from my kitchen, as well as mugs, tongs for cooking and utensils, along with that extra food already in our pantry. I also brought a trash bag, dish soap and a sponge from home.

Low also suggested items like takeout containers or Tupperware can be perfect to eat out of or help you prep your food. I took his advice: On my trip, my main eating bowl was a plastic tupperware that I’ve had forever.

“Almost everybody usually has something like that at home,” he said. “So you don’t have to go out and buy everything.”

Money left over? Don’t sleep on the fun optional extras

For entertainment around camp, bring a book you have lying around but haven’t gotten to, a deck of cards, a board game or even a frisbee. Sports Basement offers hammocks to rent as well. If you’re by a lake, you can even bring a floaty and a small speaker to lean into the beach vibes.

One of Low’s favorite camp games is bocce ball, he said. He even found a set with LEDs so he can play at night with friends.

“It’s not serious,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the ground is perfectly level. We’ve played it on a hill before, and it just kind of makes it that much more fun when all the balls roll out there and then roll back towards you.”

Low has also had friends bring musical instruments. On my trip, I brought art supplies and a board game from home to pass the time.

“If you’re car camping, the world is your oyster,” Low said. “If it fits in the car and you think it’s gonna improve your experience and be kind of fun out there, then bring it.”