Rules & Regulations
Permits are required. Campers without a valid backcountry permit may be cited.
Camping is restricted to the four backpack campgrounds at numbered sites or to National Park beaches on the west side of Tomales Bay.
An overnight parking pass must be displayed on the dashboard of every vehicle associated with a hike-in camping permit parked overnight in the National Seashore. If you are starting your hike from Bear Valley, park your vehicle(s) in the gravel parking lot on the left (east) side of the access road close to the Bear Valley Trailhead.
Campers on Tomales Bay beaches must arrive by boat and may not drive, hike, bike, or ride horses to the beaches. Overnight parking for boat-in campers is prohibited within Point Reyes National Seashore (i.e., along the Pierce Point and L Ranch Roads and at the Marshall Beach Trailhead) and Tomales Bay State Park.
Camping is limited to four nights per visit, with a maximum of thirty nights per year.
We do not allow groups of more than six people to split up into multiple individual sites within the same campground. Groups of more than six are restricted to group sites only, and, similarly, may not purchase more than one site per campground. Everyone associated with your party at a given campground must stay in the same, single campsite.
Parties of six or fewer people are not permitted to reserve group sites.
The minimum age of any camper is eighteen unless accompanied by an adult. Permits are not issued to children seventeen years of age or younger; an adult must pick up the permit at the Bear Valley Visitor Center.
No dogs or other pets are permitted in any campground or on park trails. This prohibition does not apply to working service dogs, which are allowed on trails and in public buildings. If you have a service dog, please inquire at a park visitor center for information before setting out.
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Follow Leave No Trace principles.
Wood fires are prohibited in the hike-in campgrounds. Only gas stoves, charcoal, or canned heat may be used for cooking. Downed wood may not be gathered and burned. Small fires made out of natural driftwood are permitted on sandy beaches (below the high tide line, if possible). Permits are required for beach fires in the park and can be picked up with your camping permit at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. Put fires out with water, not sand.
In the backcountry, charcoal fires are only allowed in the park-provided grills at designated campsites. Completely extinguish the briquettes before going to sleep or otherwise leaving the grill unattended. Visitors planning to cook food over a beach fire or barbecue briquettes should come prepared with an alternative means (i.e., self-contained gas stove) of cooking in the event of a Winter Spare the Air Alert or high, very high or extreme fire danger.
All weapons (including, but not limited to, B-B guns, slingshots, bows and arrows, or any object capable of discharging a projectile—with the exception of firearms), as well as weapons prohibited by the state, are prohibited.
Hunting is prohibited.
Fireworks are prohibited.
Store your food and other scented items properly in the food storage lockers provided at the campsite. While the lockers prevent larger animals from properly stored food, mice can gain access into the lockers through small drain holes. Campers may wish to use steel wool to plug these holes during their stay. Please remove the steel wool upon departure. Do not leave any food unattended outside of the locker or stored in your tent. Raccoons, foxes, and skunks are plentiful and aggressive. Do not feed wild animals.
Quiet hours are from sundown to sunrise. Respect your neighbors, the wilderness, and natural quiet.
Campsites should be left clean. Pack out all trash.
Campers must vacate their campsite by noon on their day of departure, but are welcome to continue hiking and exploring the park after noon.
Boaters must remove human waste. Disposing of human waste in the bay or onto park beaches is prohibited, so campers must bring portable toilets or limit camping to Marshall Beach and Tomales Beach, where vault toilets are available.
Maximum number of horses or pack animals in any campground is eight. Horses are not allowed at Glen Camp. Pack animals and horses must be tied to hitch rails.
Multimedia:
NPSWilderness has produced three videos entitled Wilderness Calling: Point Reyes, Wilderness Motion: Point Reyes, and Wilderness Visions: Point Reyes featuring images and sounds from the Phillip Burton Wilderness within Point Reyes National Seashore, in addition to two videos about and which hikers, campers, and other visitors to Point Reyes may find of interest.
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