My friends and I are driving from the DMV to camp out for 4 days. We all kinda want to drive up on our own. How many cars/tents are allowed on the campground? Can we use the parking lot near the observation field for overflow parking?

Depends how many campsites you reserved. Definitely couldn't get four cars in 1 campsite, maybe 2 cars. We had 2 sites for 5 adults and 2 kids, 3 tents total. The lot by the observation field has plenty of parking. Was there last weekend, nightime lows were around 40.

I think the number is one. And then you pay for an extra vehicle on the lot or if the cars don't fit on the lot, you have to pay for an extra campsite. Overnight parking in the big lot is not allowed. And rangers visit every morning to make sure everyone has paid etc. Visit their website and read the info there and also get a reservation because we didn't manage to catch one and had to go a few minutes down the street to Patterson state park (also a nice campsite although closer to the road).