Fremont Peak State Park — Attraction in Hollister

We go camping here every Summer but this year was not as great as usual. The ranger station at the top of the mountain with all the campsites have a bunch of dogs that bark all the time, even at night and extremely early in the morning. We kept having people who weren't camping walk all over our campsite eventhough it was after sunset and all the day trip ppl were supposed to have left by sunset. We woke up to people standing next to our car in our campsite with binoculars trained on the tree above our tent at 6 am birdwatching... We hope that's what they were doing, because it was so hot we couldn't close our windows on our tent without melting, either way it was disconcerting. The bathrooms weren't clean and had millions of flies, tons of moths and mosquitoes as soon as you opened the bathroom door and it was worse when you opened the toilet lid, flies just shot up at you like missiles. Maybe for guys that's fine but for us girls who have to sit down every time, it's a nightmare to have things attack our bottoms and private areas while using the restroom. On Saturday the observatory was open and more people than usual visited and since their was very limited parking ppl just started parking wherever they wanted so over and over again as ppl came back to their cars they'd get in, start their cars, and put their brights on, then try to turn their car around all the while you the camper are being blinded and if you had your night vision you didn't have it for long. Not once did those people apologize or think hey maybe I should turn my parking lights on instead of blinding everyone whose camping. It was frustrating to say the least but by midnight finally most of them had left. The ranger never changed the name cards on the different campsites so people who reserved a spot on Saturday didn't know what campsite was theirs so ppl started arguing saying certain spots were theirs because it had the best views or had good breezes or was the best so it had to be theirs. We had reservations for months before we went and ours had our name card on it with how many days we were camping for, so that didn't effect us as much, we just had to put up with the arguing. There was also a crazy amount of biting flies and mosquitoes this year and bug spray doesn't work for more than 5 minutes before they find you again. We brought 4 different kinds to see if any worked better than others but nope they all failed. IF we go again next year I think I'm going to see if I can buy a solar powered bug zapper and see if that works lol. Usually we love coming here to camp because the views are beautiful and going to the observatory is a really great way to let the kids see the planets but after everything we aren't sure if we'll be going here next year and instead find somewhere new with less...

Nice, safe, secluded, fairly quiet campgrounds.

The area is fairly un-improved. The bathrooms are glorified outhouses, there is no electricity so everything is ulit at night, and the running water isn't potable. (There are no signs telling you this. Our camping neighbors got sick from drinking it and only found out the next morning when they asked a ranger.)

There is nobody onsite managing things, but a ranger drives through a couple times a day to check on everything. The area is well kept up. Poison oak does exist in the area but it's kept out of the campsites and it's not invasive.

The drive is a long narrow twisting road up the mountain that my wife dubbed "the cliffs of death". Make sure you have everything you need, take it slow, and expect it to take you a solid 20-30 minutes to/from the nearby town of San Juan Bautista for any goods you may need. (Windmill Market in SJB has the basics, but you may need to head another ~15 minutes to Hollister for less common items or a Target/Walmart.)

As far as things to do in the area, let me start by saying first off that the sunset views are in and of themselves a reason to stay here. You are perched well above the marine fog layer that rolls in at night, and seeing the fog pour over the mountains and watching the sun set behind it is one of the best views I have ever gotten to witness. That being said, sunset only lasts a short time and you will probably want to spend your days doing something else. There are some hikes in the area, but with little kids and mixed reviews, we avoided them. The nearby town of San Juan Bautista is rife with history to explore and also many great restaurants. If you are up for a longer drive, Pinnacles National Park is about 45 minutes from SJB in one direction, and the Monterey Bay is about 45 minutes in the other direction. Both destinations a great...

Beautiful location with incredible views, decent trails, and fabulous sunsets.

We camped here over the weekend and were blown away by the views from the site. You can see out over the valley, watch the marine layer roll in or out, and have spectacular colors at sunrise and sunset. It's very buggy this time of year some come prepared to hose down in bug spray or pop a netted shade structure. Camp sites all seem to have decent shade for most of the day, picnic tables, and fire pits that can be used when not in fire season. It's relatively quiet, depending on your neighbors, and quite relaxing.

The trails were in decent shape, although the maps are not scaled very well. Up to Fremont Peak had the best trails while the Valley View trail could've used some leaf removal and was a bit slick in spots. Nothing too bad if you've got your hiking boots on, but could be rough with kids. Climbing up to Fremont Peak was incredible for the views of the valley, including Hollister and Salinas.

The conservatory is a small little building hosting a large telescope and some spots for amateur astronomers to bring their own gear. We happened to be there on a weekend with programming and were so excited to catch some solar flares via a hydrogen telescope during the day, and nebulas at night. There's a bit too much light pollution from surrounding cities to fully see or photograph the Milky Way, but you could faintly see it, along with satellites, shooting stats, and planets. Very...