Yosemite National Park
“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine into trees.”
If you are visiting San Francisco, you really need to take 2-3 more days and visit Yosemite. It’s not that close at 195 mi / 314 km and 4-5 hour drive, but you will regret it if you don’t. (Do it instead of scratching Hollywood off your bucket list.) The waterfalls in the spring, the sequoias of Mariposa Grove in the snow, the views from Glacier Point or Tunnel View and the challenging hikes are all part of the unique allure.
Drive slowly through the park — no really — first because car accidents in the park are a popular way to die, but also because you are the biggest danger to bears and other wildlife that seem to think they run the place.
I’m not a camper so I can’t help you there, but if you can afford it and plan far enough ahead, I highly recommend the hotels in the park. Just for the historic ambience alone they are worth a try. The Ahwahnee Hotel always looked a little expensive for the state of the accommodations, but hey, Steve Jobs got married there so there’s that and some queens and presidents stayed there too.
My favorite accommodation was The Narrow Gauge Inn in Fish Camp, just south of the park. Easy to get to Mariposa Grove first thing in the morning before everyone else driving in from the north (at 30 mph). The restaurant is great and the Buffalo Bar is what the 1950’s thought the 1850’s looked like. If you get creeped out by mounted animal heads, though, you may need to stay elsewhere.
John Muir devoted his life to preserving and keeping Yosemite from becoming just another reservoir for San Francisco drinking water like the Hetch-Hetchy. We do enjoy great drinking water, but imagine if there was a second Yosemite park and we got our water from a manmade reservoir. The history of the American West is the battle for water at the core.