Castle Crags State Park Campground

Pretty nice campground, little noisy from I-5 traffic. Site 24 is fairly level if you are in a van.

Melissa helps keep this site so clean and comfortable! Be sure to do your part and clean up after yourself at a minimum! Or better yet leave the place better than how you found it! There are showers and flushable toilets at this campground which made it feel a lot more luxurious for camping!

We actually really liked this campground! If you were camping in a tent, I would not recommend it, as you will possibly hear road noise! However, we did not hear the highway or anything in our camper. We really liked that it was so close to the highway. Super easy to find and a great place to stay after a long day driving. The camping spots were level and nicely taken care of. We had the campground mostly to ourselves with the exception of a couple other trailers and camper vans.

Stayed in the upper loop, one of the furthest sites from the I-5, so the only disturbing road noise is the train (?) blaring. Bathroom and showers are all stalls in the same room and it’s extremely buggy. The insect species diversity is incredible if you’re into bugs, but even so, it’s no fun when they fly in your eyes at night and clog up the sink drain. Trailheads are a bit of a climb from campsites. Campground tap water tastes very bad. Campsites are not private due to the sparse trees. HOWEVER, the campsite is extremely convenient. If you arrive after hours, you can pay at a kiosk and they also sell firewood. The parking spots are spacious and quite level. There’s a cute little shop which sells shirts and hats and stickers and 3D printed dragons and whales if you’re into that. Castle Dome was amazing and staying at the campsite allowed me to start my hike in the early afternoon and relax after returning to the campsite.

Although a pretty campground, the noise from the freeway is unbearable. It's a constant noise that kept me up most of the night. Freight trains also honk when driving through Dunsmuir which adds to the sounds. The lower levels (1-19) are the worst, followed by the remaining lower loop. The upper loop is quieter but still very noisy. All the hikes from the campground are also noisy - I've had quieter walks in parks in the middle of San Francisco then here. We skipped out after a night to find a quieter alternative. A shame as our camping guide had rated this 10/10 but be aware - it isn't the peaceful rest in nature.