Visitor Information - An Angel Island Odyssey - CycleBlaze

February 16, 2010

Visitor Information

Visitor information:

Most info can be gathered from the web sites in my introduction but here is some extra stuff from my perspective...

Direct link to the park brochure... http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/468/files/angelisland_web.pdf

Camping: Sites 4,5,6 overlook the San Francisco side and are the most popular and thus harder to reserve. I thought site 4 was the best of the 3 because it was the highest and gave views both east and west. Site 5 was also great though. Site 6 would be the 3rd choice; it did not have much of a view and the bathroom was too close.

NEW INFORMATION As fate would have it, I mentioned my trip to someone at work who camps on Angel Island often. He said that site 4 IS nice but can be very windy. Since there was practically no wind for us last weekend I didn't think of that. Something to mull over if you have a choice of campsites.

I can't rate the other campgrounds since I did not stay there but they all have views, the views are just different and not of the city. They are all small though, with only a few sites and everyone who camps has to either hike, ride or kayak in, which helps keep the riffraff out.

Reservations are recommended and a must in the summer. The ranger said they sometimes get cancellations however and to ask at the kiosk near the ferry or call ahead to the park ranger station.

I did not have a problem booking a campsite. I booked mine about three weeks beforehand.

Stealth camping would probably be no problem but I have never stealth camped so I can't give advice on that.

Crowds: Summer brings more people and more road activity. They do not allow cars but they do have some kind of touring vehicles which are more like trams. We had none of that in the off season though, and there are no cars any time of the year, aside from an odd park ranger vehicle.

Ferries: Check the ferry schedules before you visit. They have no weekday ferries in the winter but they do in the summer. Check schedules for times because apparently they can vary some depending on the day and season. The most convenient ferry leaves from Tiburon but you can catch a ferry from San Francisco.

Services: There is a restaurant and small store but they are not open in winter. Very few "attractions" were open, such as the visitor's center. One exception was the immigration station.

There are picnic tables and benches in areas with great views.

Other stuff: Lockers are available near the ferry stop so you can store packs, etc if you just want to day ride.

You have to hike to the top of the island and can't ride your bike.

That's all I can think of right now. If something else comes to mind I'll add it later.

Enjoy your stay at Angel Island! Thanks for reading.

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