About this permit
Waterman Gap Trail Camp is one of four backcountry trail camps still operating in the Santa Cruz Mountains state parks, alongside Castle Rock, Waterman Gap and Butano or Slate Creek. All trail camps in Big Basin Redwoods State Park remain closed due to extensive fire damage from the CZU August Lightning Complex fires, which is why these four carry the whole of the Bay Area's state park backpacking demand. ReserveCalifornia lists six sites here.
Waterman Gap has no first-come pool. Castle Rock Trail Camp is the only camp in the system that keeps sites available first-come, and those are registered in person at the Robert C. Kirkwood Parking Lot on Highway 35. Everything at Waterman Gap goes through the request form.
Booking does not go through ReserveCalifornia. Submit a Backcountry Trail Camp Request Form online up to 60 days in advance. Staff process requests Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. An approved request is held only until 5 p.m. the following business day pending payment, which is taken by phone on (831) 338-8867, and the permit is emailed once paid. Sending a request is not a reservation. It becomes one when it is paid. Changes and cancellations must be made a full 48 hours in advance on the same number.
Fees are $15 per site per night with a maximum of six people per site, plus an $8 non-refundable reservation fee. You may reserve up to two campsites per reservation. For groups of 13 or more the non-refundable reservation fee is a flat $25 no matter how many campsites are booked, and group reservations are allowed Sunday through Thursday only, not on weekends.
The camps are primitive: bring your own water, and treat any surface water before drinking it.
The route
Waterman Gap sits along the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail in Castle Rock State Park, west of Castle Rock Trail Camp. ReserveCalifornia lists six sites. The Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail is open from Castle Rock State Park to the Big Basin Redwoods day-use area, so this camp is on the walkable section. All of the trail camps inside Big Basin itself remain closed due to extensive fire damage. Overnight parking for backpackers is only in designated trailhead parking lots.
Why it matters
Waterman Gap is the next trail camp west of Castle Rock along the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, which makes it the second night of the classic Bay Area two-night traverse, or a quieter first night than Castle Rock for anyone who wants six sites instead of twenty. It has no first-come pool, so unlike Castle Rock, everything here is booked in advance through the request form.
The feeling
Deeper into the woods than the Castle Rock ridge and correspondingly quieter. Six sites in redwood and mixed forest, no phone signal, and the trail closing at sunset, which means that by dark the only people out here are the ones with permits.
