Sky Camp

Sky Camp is one of the best hike-​in campgrounds I’ve ever been to. I just got back yesterday. The sites are very spacious and private. The ground is a soft bed of redwood needles, and there were no mosquitos at all! I slept in a hammock without even using a net. Each site has a picnic table, grill, and bear box. There are two latrines and a spigot near the site entrance. There’s even spots to hitch up and water horses, if you bring a furry, rideable friend.
Despite the height we weren’t able to find really spectacular views, just narrow glimpses of hills and sea in the distance. Maybe the large group site had a good view, but we didn’t want to bother the group that was there. That was a little disappointing. It also got super foggy late at night, so everything got pretty wet between the moist air and the little drips from the trees.
I’m posting two pictures of site #6, where we stayed. In one you can see my lantern hanging from a tree. I forgot all about it and it’s still there! Enjoy if you find it, it’s an awesome lamp.

Campsite #11 is nothing short of amazing! The view is simply spectacular. Pit toilets, water, and great hiking make this a must-​camp place. If you park at Sky parking lot it’s only about a 1.5 mile hike in. You can make it longer if you leave from the visitor center. There is a great 8.1 mile loop down to the coast and back. Just lovely!

I just stayed at site #5 with 5 people… a beautiful campsite!
The hike in from the Sky trail head was short, but with a decent incline (this may be easy for some, or pretty challenging for others…)
This site was very spacious — we fit three tents and could have easily fit a few more. It does border on another campsite and there is no complete privacy, but they are bigger sites, so it wasn’t really an issue.
#5 was totally shaded, but there are other sites with more sun, if you’d prefer. We had great weather, but the camp remained cool all day… and then the fog rolled in around 7PM and it was cold! It also rained on us, but it wasn’t bad… added some ambiance.
The hiking around this camp is great, and there even a shorter 2.5 mile loop if you are tuckered out from the hike in.
While Sky Camp doesn’t have the beach that Coast Camp boasts, the campsites and general location are amazing.

Sky Camp is not quite as accessible as Coast Camp but it’s still pretty easy to get to. The trailhead is at the top of Limantour Rd (saving cyclists the long climb back up the next morning) and it’s just 1.5 miles to Sky Camp. All the campsites in Point Reyes are serviceable — meaning that park rangers/​staff drive into them every day to take out the trash, clean toilets, etc — so the trails are always fire road quality. In this case, though it’s short, it’s a bit steep in places for biking but do-​able if you have mountain bike gearing.
The first two sites are out in the open but have good views down to the ocean. Since they’re out in the open they can also accommodate more people. The other sites are tucked away in the bushes/​trees. They feel pretty private because you can’t see your neighbors at all but they’re also small — you would not be able to fit 6 in them unless they were side by side. Site 5 and 6 are really in the trees and you may want to avoid them if you don’t want fog drip on your tent in the morning.

Hiking from Limantour Rd. to Sky Camp is about as easy as backpacking gets at only a little over a mile and only a short incline. There are many different ways in if you want a harder hike. Point Reyes is one of my favorite places to hike in the country. I highly recommend taking a trip there.
Sky Camp is a lovely campground. It is up there so you have nice views of the ocean without the coastal winds. It’s a open campground with many of the campsites feeling very private. We stayed at campsite #10, which had a nice view. The best views seemed to be #‘s 10, 11, and 1 (which is not as private). Other notable sites for larger groups if you want more privacy then the group site offers are #6 which is in the shade and #8 and #9 which have a small trail between them.
I am not giving Sky Camp 5 stars because my favorite place to camp in Point Reyes is Wildcat.

2011-​04-​02, Sat. Night #4 of 4: hiked from Coast Camp via the Woodward Valley Trail. This was our final night of a 5 day, 4 night, 40 mile tour. From Coast Camp it’s about 5 miles up hill. Camps here are nice and mostly shaded. Great vantage points looking west to the ocean for sunsets. It is very popular here. We saw two groups of 12+. The closest trailhead is from Limantour Rd, 1.4 miles. My brother and I met our friends here. Since they only had a short hike in they came well supplied and graciously shared. A great night and in all a GREAT Tripppp…,