Formally the H. Dana Bowers Rest Area, the rest area on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge is open for overnight parking. Technically, California rest areas allow an 8 hour stay but because this one has an RV area of sorts, they seem to be fairly laid back on how long you stay (within reason). We arrived at around 9PM and stayed until midday the next day helping out some fellow vanners with engine troubles and weren’t bothered. However, if safety’s your jive, note that security does go around constantly, they’re just not assholes. There are 24 hour bathrooms and no shortage of awesome views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. The only pitfall to that is that there is a steady flow of tourists – even in the middle of the night – snapping photos and arriving by the busload. It’s about the same amount of noise as staying in a Walmart parking lot but with much better views.
