william heise county park

We camped with friends in mid October. It was very warm and the trail up mt Vulcan was tougher than we expected but we had a toddler with us. The nights were very cold and the showers were absolutely disgusting but the campsite was clean. There were many yellow jackets, but the area was very beautiful. They need to clean their showers and replace the yellow jacket traps much more often. Oh, and the shower water would bounce between cold and super hot every time someone in the bathroom complex would flush their toilet. We plan to go back in April, but we will need to bring yellow jacket traps and camping bathing wipes.

Wm Heise County Park goes back to the seventies, however you would never know that from a visit to the Park. The entire park appears to have been built yesterday. Everything in the Park from the entrance to the Park to the Bathrooms to the Cabins and the Campsites have the appearance of never being used. Now please understand Wm Heise Park from May until Thanksgiving is Sold-out every weekend with close to a thousand visitors in the park.If you enjoy Nature, Wildlife (Deer and Turkeys) you will want to return often. The Deer and Turkeys will come right up to your campsite.The Park is 5 miles to the wonderful little town of Julian, with great food and apple pie.You will fall in love with William Heise County Park.

Heading to Julian for the day over Christmas (school) vacation, we took one of our grandsons on a detour through the lovely countryside and ended up at the gates of this county park. We handed the gatekeeper our $3 and off we drove, finding a place to park and walk around. What a delightful experience we had. The air was cool and crisp but we all had our fleece on and off we went! We just walked and talked and looked at the lovely trees and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of hours doing so. We noticed lots of campsites for camping vehicles, trailers, or RVs. There is an area for tent campers only, and there are cabins to rent. These cabins are all brand new - the old ones were destroyed in a massive fire that raced through the area several years ago. This park is nicely kept and a jewel "situated 4,200 feet above sea level in a forest of pines and oaks along the northern extremity of the Laguna Mountain Range, this 929-acre park is one of the few county parks to get snowfall each year."http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/parks/Camping/heise.html

My husband and I came to visit for Thanksgiving and we are still here. If you have kids this is a fun park to be at. If you love to hike there are many trails to choose from. After Thanksgiving it has become very quiet, peaceful, and serene. We were suppose to leave on Dec. 1st and now we are not leaving until the 5th. There are Turkeys, deer, a family of fox and bobcats. It is very safe and when the tent camping closes down there are beautiful cabins you can stay all year round. I love love love this place.

William Heise park has a little something for everyone. If you have little ones there is a great playground in the trees. If you want to hike there are a few really nice hikes but beware... if hills are not your thing you might try an easier place to hike. The Kelly Ditch Trail is historic and scenic but long and tough on the hills. Some hikers really like that some maybe not so much. The trails are will cleared and maintained. You will have to be aware that the fires really have cleared out a lot of trees and there is not a lot of shade. This is a long hike one way being approx 5 miles so some people leave a car on the other side of the trail where it lets out. There are picnic tables and a helpful staff. Try it out... and then go the the Candied Apple in Julian or Wynola Pizza and chat about all the great things you saw on your hike!

This camp ground has lots of RV hook up and just plane camping sites. When camping you are not camping on to of your neighbor. Each camp sits has a fire ring and they current allow camp fires. you can purchase wood from the rangers for $5 a bundle. Lots of new-ish bathrooms that are well lite at night. two very large fields for the kids to run around on and play football or base ball. We went on the cayno hike 1.6 miles it was fun for the kids not to long. Their are longer hikes, small kids might complains on whole it was a fun week end and is only about 5 miles from downtown Julian CA.

We just went to Heise this past weekend, Sept 2014. The bathrooms were fine starting on Friday but by Saturday night the toilet paper was starting to build on the floors and the paper on the rolls was starting to get very low. By Sunday, there was absolutely no paper and the floors and toilets were totally disgusting! There was a ranger, I'll call him Ranger Dick, who had to make it a point to us that "quiet time" started at 10 pm. He just walked up to the campsite pushed passed my husband who was down at the truck and he could have related the "reminder" to our group but no he had to go up to our group in a cold, stern, unfriendly way- no people friendly skills at all. Then at almost 11pm he came up to us and said that the fire had to be out by 11. We had 2-one gallon containers sitting there with water to be used. He said that it wouldn't be enough water to do it! No duh, the water spigot was very close so we were going to make a number of trips. Now, a little history. My husband and I used to go to Heise when our children were young, this being 20-30 years ago. We enjoyed Heise tremendously-it is well laid out, lots of trails, etc. Back then, you would have the occasional group that would play their boom boxes too loud, drink too much beer, sing too loudly or play their guitars too enthusiastically but we as a family were still able do our own thing. Those past experiences did not stop us from wanting to go this past weekend. Our group consisted of myself, husband, our grown up children, their spouses and their children. When Ranger Dick came up, we, (including the grandkids), were all sitting in a circle around the camp fire in our chairs subdued but chatting and enjoying each other's company and trying to keep warm. This camping trip was the first ever for our family-having the three generations there communing with each other and with nature was to be special. We do think the event was successful but Ranger DIck disappointed us in that he treated us like we were CRIMINALS and CHILDREN with a total disregard for people like us who just wanted to enjoy the outdoors and have some family time too, who were well behaved, spoke quietly but I admit there was some occasional laughter and didn't need to possibly to sent to our rooms or in the adult world given a huge fine...

If you love nature and quite, this is a nice place to stay. Clean and friendly people to assist you. Nice place to stay for a day or two. Great camp site for a group activities or just for family get away for picnic.

This park is a nice peaceful park where you can go camping. There are trails too. It is very pretty too and there are lots of wildlife. I saw a fox right outside the park.

The camp ground is clean, the sites are nice, most have shade, all have a fire put and picnic table. We were in the tent section and it was very quiet and peaceful. There is NOT water on every site but we didn't have to walk far to get it. Great hiking in the park as well although the hikes are all pretty short. Overall, a nice place to spend the weekend!

We visited William Heise County Park to go for a hike. The day use fee was $3. We drove through the campground and saw that the sites are nice. Most are shaded and all have a picnic table and fire ring. There is some space between the campsites so you aren't right next to the neighboring campsites. The bathrooms were clean and showers were available for a fee. We hiked the Desert View Trail and the Canyon Oak Trail. Most of the trail isn't shaded. It can get hot so I suggest you hike either in the morning or evening. We saw one rattlesnake in the middle of the trail so watch where you step. It saw us a slithered off of the trail. We passed by without a problem. After hiking we ate lunch at one of the many picnic tables available. On the way out, we passed by a play area for kids. Overall, a good day and we may be back.

We had a great time at this campground. The sites are all very nice, and to close together. We were in site # 71. Lots of room to spread out. Very scenic with the trees, bushes and surrounding green hills. When they say quite time is between 10pm and 8am, they mean it. Everyone abided by the rules, and it was super quiet. The rangers drive around and wave at you, but they don't stop and check up on you. We went Easter weekend and the place was full. There are hiking trails right at the park. The creek and pond we hiked to were dry, but it was a nice hike anyways. The bathrooms are a little bit of a walk from most sites. The bathrooms in the upper tent camping area are clean. There are two woman's showers and two men's showers, and they were also very clean, but you have to pay 50 cents for 5 minutes, and the water was hot. We went down to the bathrooms and showers near the main entrance, and they are free. Inside the bathroom area, there are 3 showers, and then there's two "family" shower rooms on the outside of the bathroom building. It's just a little larger area with one shower inside each small room. Good for kids and moms, etc. The water went from cold to hot, cold to hot, depending on how many people were taking showers out of that building. All and all, we loved the campground, and loved the area, and love that it is pretty close to Julian. About a 15 - 20 minute drive to town.

We walked around one of the shorter trails. It was lovely, taking in a range of different types of forest that had been badly affected by fires 10 years before. Signs clearly explain how a forest regenerates after a fire and help you to understand what you are seeing. I'm sure it was amazing before, but it is still lovely, although a bit desolate now. A nice place for an afternoon's walk.

Wonderful camp sites, beautiful oak trees. Great surrounding area to visit - Julian and Santa Ysabel.

We stayed at a B&B just east of Julian (one mi). We wanted to find a place not too far away where we could be in nature and do some hiking. William Heise State Park was just the place! It's a big beautiful park in the mtns with some hiking trails to enjoy. I think taking pics is a must... as you are surrounded by beauty and nature! It is a State Park.. not a free park. I think we paid $5 or $6 for day use. I like the park very much and will return for a visit and hike the next time we stay in or around Julian.. :)