Calaveras Big Trees State Park — Attraction in Angels Camp

I spent a significant amount of time at Calaveras Big Trees State Park this summer (2022). It quickly and easily became one of my favorite parks of all time. The park's location in the Sierra Nevada Mountains happens to be in one of the few places where Giant Sequoia Trees thrive. These trees grow to massive sizes and hiking through the park's North Grove Trail gives you awe inspiring views that can make you feel quite small.

The staff were all extremely friendly and provided amazing programs including guided hikes, Junior Ranger and Cubs, meadow walks, and campfire programs in the evenings. They were always happy to answer questions and often helped me identify plants or insects I wasn't familiar with.

Things to keep in mind: Dogs are NOT allowed on the park's main trails. The tree that you can walk through (the Pioneer Cabin Tree) fell down in 2017. There are bears in the park so keep food in your locked car or in bear lockers if you're camping. You have to hike to see the Giant Sequoias. You won't see many just driving through the park. The river is fast and rocky so swimming is not safe. Do NOT touch the Giant Sequoias. Their bark is soft and flakes off when touched. Do NOT walk directly next to the Giant Sequoias. There are social trails around the trees but these are not real trails. This is very bad...

Review for Oak Hollow Campground

First of all the State Park/welcome center is really great. Clean and wonderful trails to view the trees and nature!

Just finished our second camping trip here in the Oak Hollow camp ground. I'll list some of the pros and cons from our 3 night stay here.

Pros: trees everywhere provide shade, some campsites have a running creek depending on time of year, enough spacing between sites, clean camp sites, running water from hose bibs.

Cons: Wasps everywhere! Was supposedly due to the drought but we were swarmed even with the trap that was set up. Campsite was pretty sloped which made for some uncomfortable sleeping for us. Bathrooms were old and dirty near campsite 100/101. Don't know if they ever get cleaned. Should really get power washed. Bugs and spider webs everywhere. Lights weren't working at night either.

Overall, the facilities really need to be updated. A couple of the restrooms looked more updated than other but some, including the restrooms near the welcome center need to be cleaned daily. California should really do better considering how people traveling from around the world to visit parks like this.

Be prepared, no cell service but free wifi at the welcome center if you stand outside of the building. Come prepared + know what to expect and you'll have...

We took a little trip up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park to show my brother around while he was here for the holiday weekend. The park was BUSY but what did we expect its the last weekend of summer. We chose Big Trees because of their accessible trails as my grandma is 86 and has a hard time walking far, this was somewhere we could take her out on nature and still use her wheelchair. The North Grove trail is the most ADA accessible it is a roughly 2 mile loop, however it is partially under construction at this time. The loop consists of 26 stops that have information on the park map about the area. Stops 17-end are currently closed for repairs and ADA upgrades. We hiked the trail from the big stump to stop 14 and then back and up to the visitor center. There are a few spots that the path way leans so the wheel chair wanted to go right or left and there is some loose gravel on the path from the stump to the visitor center but this trail was very doable with grandma in her wheel chair. It was a fairly fast trail with alit of scenery. It would be suitable for young children, families, and those with loved ones in wheel chairs or with mobility issues. We will be taking her back when the other half of the trail is open again and we can take her for some...