Camping in Rio Vista

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

One thing about camping in Rio Vista is that you would be better off camping on Sherman Island or somewhere along the Sacramento River. Rio Vista is about 12 miles away from the sailing sites.

andydavis · Joined: 11 Apr 1999 Posts: 319 Location: Point Isabel

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

$7.50 per day to trailer, truck, or RV camp plus $5.00 for the car to enter. Still cheap.
But you can't tent camp. Needs to be truck/car or trailer camping.

No parking in the grassy triangle. It's reserved .... not really.

andydavis · Joined: 11 Apr 1999 Posts: 319 Location: Point Isabel

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Airwave, what spot are you talking about?
Access in the lower area is free for overnights. Tent camping is NOT encouraged.

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

Tent camping is not allowed in the County Park. The tents that are set up behind campers are usually just sun shades.

On occasion tent campers set up out in the fields and stay overnight. It is not legal but with the proper discretion, hiding behind some berry bushes or trees, and limited use it happens. The Park is an unusual place where rules are loosely obeyed.
There is a new Park Ranger that has cracked down on things a little bit.
But the bottom line is that tent camping is not allowed by the Sacramento Park District. If it were done with any regularity the Rangers would probably be forced to come down hard on lots of other loosely followed rules.

The area known as the Access which is the low area just before the Park entrance is meant to be day use only. It is private property that is made available with an agreement from the RVWA. Overnights for events seemed to work out fine. I am guessing that permission can be granted. The rules there are that no camping is allowed by RV, trailer, or tent. But again like in the County Park the rules are loosely enforced, very loosely enforced. RV's and trailers camp there somewhat regularly. Most are members of the RVWA, but not all. Discretion by not overstaying your welcome seems to be all that is needed to keep the Access open to some overnight use.

There is also the levee road itself. Many RV and Trailer campers park on the River side of the levee and camp overnight. I feel certain that levee
camping is probably not legal and the County Sheriff would stop it if the County Sheriff where ever to go out there. But that does not happen. Camping there overnight legally is probably as simple as throwing a fishing line in the water and sleeping while you wait.

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

Just to be specific about the County Park camping. RV's and trailers are allowed as are vans and trucks.

I tow a small trailer. To be legal I buy a County Park Pass for $100. It covers my car for day use and as a towing vehicle.
I then also pay $7.50 for each night that I camp in the park.
I also pay $50 for my other car in the event that my wife brings it out or I use it for day use. Because it is only a $50 pass I cannot use it as a tow vehicle for camping.

If you van or truck camp you will be required to pay for day use, $5.00 or a yearly pass $50 and you are also required to pay $7.50 for an overnight stay. I'm sure there is a lot of "slippage" concerning this. But most of us follow the rules because if to many of us break them it will pretty quickly go bad for us all.

The Park also has a 13 day rule. Which means you can only camp 13 days in a row without leaving, at least for a day. If you overstay (14 days or more) the Park Ranger will enforce the rule and you will be required to leave and not return for 30 days. The new Ranger is enforcing this rule and is requiring the Park Host to enforce it as well.

The Sherman regulars are a fortunate group. The Park has sail lockers, carpeted beach access and rigging areas, natural area clearings, and all manner of gear laying about over wide areas. People eat, drink, and party all the time without interference. There are Disco Ball parties, music playing, group cookouts and pot lucks and all manner of good times. For a Park in California to allow such free form activities with little demand on rules is highly unusual. I dare say it is the only public place like it in California, perhaps even the U.S.

We are lucky to have it. So, lets respect what few rules and cost we have.