Glamping in Sonoma County: 20 Minutes with Ken Barber of Wildhaven Sonoma

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By Kind Traveler • Posted on Sep 26, 2023

Finding a campground within reasonable proximity to the greater San Francisco area can be something of a challenge. Not only are the options limited, but securing a campsite in one of the few campgrounds that do exist throughout the region requires booking at least six months in advance.

It’s not ideal if you’re a San Francisco resident who enjoys being able to escape the urban grind and spend time immersed in nature when opportunity allows.

That’s merely one of the reasons why San Francisco resident Ken Barber, an avid outdoorsman himself, decided to create Wildhaven Sonoma, a glamping retreat along the Russian River in Sonoma County that’s already attracted a devoted— and growing —group of fans.

Related: Travel Kindly: Sonoma County

With its low-impact safari style tent cabins, limited use of electricity, low-flow faucets, and drought-friendly landscaping, the property is the very embodiment of Barber’s ethos.

Barber, and his Wildhaven Sonoma business partner Brian Lawrence, are both longtime hikers and campers who share a deep love of nature and who’ve always adhered to the golden rule of outdoor recreation: Leave no trace.

When the duo started a hiking group in San Francisco several years ago, they found that few members really understood this concept of protecting nature. And so they began teaching members about the importance of practicing environmental stewardship.

"When we created our hiking club, many of the members didn’t know trail etiquette—like where you put your trash before you leave a camp site. But once we taught them, they were very receptive" Barber explains. Later, when members of the hiking group clamored for more outdoor activities, Barber and Lawrence began offering camping retreats.

"We started planning camping trips and we did all of the food, meals, wine—all as part of this package offering," says Barber.

“People loved it. And they started telling us that they wanted to go to more places,” Barber continues. “So, first we thought we would start an app to help people find places to go. And then we realized that it wasn’t an app people needed. It was a location.”

And thus, the search for a property that could be used to create what would eventually become Wildhaven Sonoma, began.

Barber and Lawrence spent two years working with a realtor and scouting for the right location. They had a few specific parameters in mind. The property needed to be within two hours of San Francisco. And it had to offer spectacular natural beauty.

It was a search that took the duo to the Tahoe region, almost all the way to Eureka in Northern California and to just outside of Bakersfield, as well.

Finally, the exhaustive search brought Barber and Lawrence to a property just 70 miles north of San Francisco in the famous Alexandar Valley wine region. The 10-acre site that’s now home to Wildhaven Sonoma is surrounded by vineyards and sits amid an abundance of spectacular natural beauty, including providing guests private access to the Russian River.

All of which, aligns perfectly with Barber’s goals of not only helping others to appreciate nature, but allowing them to do so in a way that encourages ardent environmental stewardship.

“To us, you can’t really protect our environment and take care of it, unless you first appreciate it,” he explains. "And for that, you have to be closely immersed in it.”

Wildhaven Sonoma has also been thoughtfully constructed to minimize its environmental impact, while also supporting the local community as best as possible.

In addition to the low-impact safari tents (which have been built on wooden platforms to further minimize their footprint on the land), and drought-friendly landscaping, the glamping property includes a modern water treatment system that recycles 100 percent of guest waste so that it can be used for irrigation and to help offset the region’s drought challenges.

“The way we’ve done it, is very low impact. We just put a wooden platform down with a tent on it,” says Barber. “We don’t have elevators. There’s no air conditioning units and no giant parking lots. It’s a very simple place with 40 tents and a common bathroom and shower.”

And true to Barber’s tradition of giving back, Wildhaven Sonoma is also one of the first hospitality partners to participate in Kind Traveler’s recently launched Every Stay Gives Back community impact program. A formalized giving program for hotels, Every Stay Gives Back directs funds from every guest’s stay to local non-profit organizations vetted by Kind Traveler. With Kind Traveler's partnership with Sonoma County Tourism, the destination designated several charities as beneficiaries critical to the local community's well-being. In the case of Wildhaven Sonoma, a portion of the proceeds from each guest’s stay will be used to support Farm to Pantry, a program that rescues food from waste and donates it to local food banks to support families in need.

Opened a little over two years ago, Wildhaven Sonoma has already been such a success that Barber and his partner are scouting for a second location in California, as a way to continue their journey helping others to enjoy the outdoors in a sustainable way.

“If you have a close connection to nature and sleep in the outdoors, you’re likely to appreciate it more,” says Barber. “And you’re more likely to want to protect it.”

Learn more about the positive impact you can make on your next visit to Wildhaven Sonoma with Kind Traveler's Every Stay Gives Back program.

Author Bio: Mia Taylor is an award-winning journalist and editor. She has been writing and editing professionally for 20 years and holds an undergraduate degree in print journalism and a graduate degree in journalism and media studies. Her career includes working as a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fortune, Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple, Parents, and Health.

Glamping in Sonoma County: 20 Minutes with Ken Barber of Wildhaven Sonoma

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