Campsite review: Anthony Chabot Regional Park

Location:
9999 Redwood Road
Castro Valley, CA  94546

Date of visit:
July 16-17, 2010

Weather:
Very pleasant. I was worried that it was going to be East Bay Hot, but the elevation and eucalyptus trees made it pretty comfortable. It was in the 70s in the late afternoon and overnight low inside my tent was 63F. It was a bit cooler than that outside; it got pretty warm and humid in my tent. Overnight low outside was probably high 50s.

Campground Condition:
* This is not a quiet campground. The BART trains are very audible — it’s not jarring, but the whine is a constant background noise. Train horns go off once in a while, too, which was barely noticeable in the evening but woke me up a couple of times in the night. The freeway is also noticeable, particularly with sirens at night. Bring earplugs!!

* There are five little loops of campsite at Anthony Chabot; we were at the outermost loop in campsite #64. This particular site was on the inside of the car loop, so there were no views. Campsite #69, across the road from us, looked like it had the best view in our loop area.

* The campsites are very close together. There is tree cover, but eucalyptus doesn’t make a very good privacy barrier. We happened to get noisy neighbors, which made for difficult sleep at first (quiet hours start at 10pm, but I never saw the ranger drive by; only a cop car once earlier in the evening).

* Each site has a fire pit, concrete parking pad, and picnic table. There are garbage cans and recycling bins at the restrooms and spread around the camping areas, plus water spigots about every third campsite. Animals must not be a problem, as there are no food lockers and the garbage cans are just big dumpsters (no special latching covers).
* The bathrooms are clean but basic.  The bathroom building nearest our site had men’s and women’s stalls with flush toilets, sinks, and mirrors. No paper towels, but there was soap (and the water wasn’t ice cold!). The building also contained four individual unisex showers that appeared to be free and in good condition.

* Firewood was available from the campsite host, but I don’t know the cost as we brought our own wood.
What to do: (copied from the below website)
* Visitors can explore miles of beautiful hiking, riding, and bicycling trails through grasslands, chaparral, and shady eucalyptus groves or along the shores of Lake Chabot.

* The East Bay Skyline National Trail, which traverses 31 miles of East Bay hills from Richmond to Castro Valley, runs the length of the park.

* Chabot is connected to Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area by a six-mile section of the Chabot-to-Garin Regional Trail.

More info:
Anthony Chabot Regional Park website

My photos:

Our site (#64):

Facing the other side of the campsite (the firepit is on the far side of the picnic table).

Steph and I took a short hike along Honker Bay Trail, whose trailhead was right by our site. There were nice views of Lake Chabot.

Walking along Honker Bay Trail: