How to Sleep Under the Redwoods at Samuel P. Taylor Campground with your Kids

Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a beautiful campground just an hour away from the Bay Area, but feels worlds away. As you drive farther from the nearest city you suddenly find yourself driving through a gorgeous grove of tall redwood trees. It is a place where you can relax and escape city living for a weekend with your kids, and wake up under the canopy of the redwoods.

Because of its proximity to home, we chose this campground as the ideal first camping trip with our baby. It went so well that we have been back quite a few times since. Take it from me—this is an ideal campsite for both beginners and camping pros alike!

We acknowledge that the lands in and around Samuel P. Taylor State Park are the stolen and occupied ancestral homelands of the Coast Miwok Tribe.

Before you go

Book your site in advance. Even though this campsite has 60 single-family tent sites, they fill up quickly! You can reserve a campsite online or by phone up to six months in advance.
Bring your ID. The camp ranger will ask to see the ID of the person who’s name is on the reservation at the kiosk when you arrive.
Book two sites together for a larger group. Book two campsites together to benefit from the greatest amount of shared space. We chose campsites 8 & 10 for our multi-family camping adventure and found ourselves with two big sites right next to each other with plenty of room for our kids to roam between us. Lucky for us, these sites were between the two bathrooms to make potty breaks a tad easier. See here for a campground map. If booking for more than two groups, book a group site.

What we packed

Standard diaper bag essentials
Camping essentials (tent, sleeping bags, pillows)
Sunscreen and hats
A cooler with food for dinner and breakfast
Baby carrier
Wagon
Bikes & scooters
Fun campground activities

BASE COST

Campground reservations are $35/night for a tent site plus a $7.99 service fee
$8 for day-use parking

Add-Ons:

Meals from town (if not bringing your own)

Tips To Get the Most Out Of Your Trip

1. Go for a hike

Samuel P. Taylor State Park contains about 600 acres of old-growth redwood forest and trails, some of which can be seen from the two-mile loop Pioneer Tree trail.

We particularly enjoy this hiking trail since you can leave straight from your campground and make a quick return trip if you forgot snacks or diapers.

2. Ride bikes or scooters

There is a paved bike path along the Cross Marin Trail that follows the creek for three miles through the park. Go as far as your kiddos will take you, but remember that you have to head back the way you came.

It’s fun to scooter around the campsite too. Our kids found the hill by campsites 8 and 10 to be especially entertaining.

3. Bring fun camp activities

Make your campsite downtime more enjoyable by bringing more opportunities for campsite fun.

Our kids enjoyed playing card games, painting, coloring, and reading books in the tent.

See our blog post here for more suggestions.

4. Find the tree slide

Look for the small outcrop of redwood tress right off the road as you enter the biker’s camp (campsite H/B on the map), a “bike-in” or “hike-in” campsite reserved for road bikers only. In the middle of these trees is a redwood tree that fell over and gave itself to be a slide.

Climb up the right side and see the center of the tree lovingly smoothed down by generations of little tushies that have slid to their hearts’ content.

Our preschooler was hesitant at first, but then refused to leave after a few rides down the tree slide.

5. Dress for cooler weather

The majority of campsites are located under the beautiful canopy of redwood trees. This means that the evening and morning temperatures can remain cool since the sun never fully peeks through, so prepare for to be cold at breakfast and dinner around the picnic table.

6. Plan a trip into town

Samuel P. Taylor is located between the towns of Fairfax and Pt. Reyes Station. Stop by one of these towns to grab lunch, dinner, or breakfast on your way in or out. Or, pick up oysters nearby at Tomales Bay, a 20-minute drive away.

Although camping with our kids is always a joy, there was something special about this trip. Maybe it was the fact that I was feeling more confident about our ability to family camp, or that my expectations of a successful trip have adjusted, or maybe it is because my kids are getting older and more independent and therefore much easier to handle.

Whatever the reason, I had an amazing time under the shade of redwood grove at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

My kids played for hours on a tree stump, made up games, and never once asked for a screen or device. My oldest was encouraged by her friends to ride her scooter fast down a hill she would have walked down just a week before.

Seeing my kids develop a deep love of camping, the outdoors, and dirt made this backpacking-mama so proud. Maybe I can encourage my pink-obsessed, princess-loving, tutu-clad preschooler to love dirt and camping as much as princesses. Princesses do wear hiking boots.

How do you share your love of the outdoors with your kids? Tell us in the comments below.

Check us out on Pinterest!

Angel

see more posts by this author

Puerto Rican & Indigenous mama of two. Bay Area native. Salsa dancer. Backpacker. Doula. Angel (she/her/hers) is a co-founding member of the Beautiful Brown Adventures team. She has traveled to over 30 countries and loves to explore the world with her two daughters & partner - one ice cream shop at a time.