‘Roughing it’ among the Redwoods

If you’ve longed to wake up in a redwood grove without the aches, pains, and potential creepy-crawlies of camping, then you’ll like the sound of five new fully-enclosed cabins — replete with heat and electricity — at Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Marin County.

The brand-new cabins — which debut Saturday for overnight use – were rolled out by state officials Wednesday.

For $100 a night, you and four of your family or friends can bunk up in a 12-by-20-foot pre-fabricated cabin. Each cabin includes an outdoor fire ring, an outdoor grill (briquets only) for cooking, and a covered porch for hanging out.

What the cabins do not include, though, is running water or toilet facilities. Though the park’s website describes the distance to the bathroom as a “short walk” from cabins, we doubt it’s shorter, warmer or less scary in the middle of the night than the few steps between your bed at home and your bathroom.

And while each of the five cabins accommodates up to five people, they don’t allow pets, be they in cabins, cars or outdoors. The park advises leaving dogs at home.

Though all of the cabins are sold out for the initial weekend — except one wheelchair-accessible unit — the first week looks pretty wide-open. Just in time to take a well-deserved day off to hit the great indoors.

Jesse Garnier

Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.