Wakalu Hep Yo Campground — Hotel in Angels Camp

Very nice camping by the river, bathrooms are dirty, but nature is nice. It would have been 4 stars for everything but we got a Federal parking ticket at our camp site (worth losing 2 stars!!). Each site has a little asphalt parking and we parked off that asphalt area onto the dirt and little closer to the table and grill. We did not damage nature, it was just little dirt we parked on. For so many years camping, we never got a ticket for such silly parking violation, and we never heard of this before. We got ticket within half an hour of parking there. It was issued by Stanislaus Forest Ticket (55$).It says on the ticket we could get reported to the DMV. It also says... "By paying the amount due you may be admitting to a criminal offense and a conviction may appear in a public record with adverse consequences to you." This was for the parking ticket!! We freaked out! We tried to look for a camp host, but he/she was never to be found (no host all the weekend) There was no sign at our site to state that we cannot park there. We would have moved the car if we knew this. Now we never want to come back here because of this. Also, watch for leaving your site with the car, it seems like even if you pay for the spot, you cannot leave for a hike. You must leave your car there, otherwise you may lose your spot. Tip for all these campsites, please have a way to pay for the campsite online somehow. Not everyone has a checkbook or...

Great campsites. I visited after the 4th of July and it wasn't crowded at all, maybe 20% of the spaces were occupied? There are "walk in" and "drive up" spaces. Both were nice, but more mosquitos in the walk in sites though by far (bring a mosquito coil and DEET, leave the citronella at home). There are accessible versions of both sites and group sites (up to six people and two cars per site), all for $20. Quiet time is 10pm to 6am. No campfires but stoves are OK.

Between every 10ish sites is a vault toilet and a potable water spigot (no soap in the bathrooms). There's a single flush toilet at the entrance, there's a shower too but I wasn't brave enough to try it.

Nearest store was in Camp Connell, 5 mi down from the Bear Road/Hwy 4 turn off, they had everything you could need (🧊, meds, ⛽), including WiFi (no service or pay phones at camp).

Don't go swimming near the bridge - it's insanely dangerous. Follow the path past the rapids, past the lookout point and go through the underbrush into the ATV/ORV area and the path will lead you to an area you can wade or relax on some rocks. You cannot see the bottom of the river, it's very cold and very fast. Do not let a kid swim in this river and be careful not to slip on any...

Mid September 2021

First come, first serve campsite with at least 50 campsites (drive up and walk to sites). Paved concrete roads. We arrived on a Saturday morning @ 11am and there were plenty of campsites available. They started to fill up around 2pm but there were still available spots.

The campsites are spaced a healthy distance away from others. Each site has a campfire pit and a picnic table. Unfortunately due to wildfires, no fires were aloud (though som people still had fires anyway 👎 rangers shut that down).

Has Vault toilets and dumpsters. All the water fountains were not operating. We had several water containers, so we filled one with river water to wash our hands and dishes.

Easy access to the river. We saw hundreds of dragon flies and butterflies flying over the river 🦋

Beware of yellow jackets and flies. They were pretty ruthless. Be sure to put away all food in your vehicle to prevent bears cruising through your camp.

Unfortunately there was trash near the river. Even tho this camp has a dumpster service, people still litter... very disappointing given you go camping to enjoy nature. Please do your part to keep these spaces clean...