Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Camping at the Big Trees is a definite must do. We were able to book a great site last minute. Campground has clean restrooms and lots of shade. We had booked two nights at site 4 in the north grove campground and a 3rd night for site 43. We had to cancel the last night due to the site being terribly sloped and uneven. Many sites marked for trailers and rvs weren't suitable. I would recommend looking in the first loop for a trailer site. All are paved and level.
Other than the site issues, we loved it there. And the trees? Amazing.

We Had a blast at Big Trees sp. We are weekend warriors so we almost always pack in on Friday evenings which is fine, but pulling 30ft of 5th wheel through the old dim lit park was a bit of a challenge. The pads are kinda short and there were lots of trailers and really nice tow rigs sticking out which only added to the stress of pulling through the upper park.

We were in spot 114 which is very level, but the approach to park your trailer is on a pretty steep slope. We ended up pulling past the site going up hill and then rolling back down and wrapping the rig around a huge red wood. The overall size of our site was huge and the kids loved it. Trees/creeks/trails all around us. ALL of our neighbors were very respectful and very quiet.

The overall experience of big trees in awesome. We will defiantly be coming back again

Site: Very unlevel
Bathroom: Directly behind site. Coin-operated showers.
Bears: Bear boxes provided.
Elevation: 4628
Occupancy: Two vehicles and eight people. Overflow parking available.
Hookups: None, but a dump station is free with camping fee.
Pets: Allowed in the campground, fire road and paved roads, but not on trails. Must be contained at night in tent or vehicle and must not be left unattended.
Generators: Allowed 10 am to 8 pm.
Check in: Walk up, would not allow check in from the car.

I almost don't want to say what site we stayed in as we want it to be available for us next year. We went down with friends who stayed in the site next to us -- if we were strangers I'd say the sites were too close. But being with friends it was nice and cozy. It was a perfect spot as the two sites are set back off the main campground road with no sites behind them. This gave our kids the run of the forest, which was all we had behind us. Plus there was a steam behind us that the kids had a ball playing in. Note: if you have kids, they will get muddy! But isn't that what camping for a kid is supposed to be? The one negative is you can see glimpses through the trees (and hear) Hwy 4. Any traffic noise was intermittent and became non-existent after about 7:00pm. But with all of the pluses to this site, we didn't care (and I usually HATE any sign/sound of civilization when camping).

The town of Arnold, with a great coffee shop (Bistro Espresso) that also has hand-scooped ice cream and yummy food, gas stations, market, Ace Hardware, a good burger joint (Giant Burger), and cell service! (2 bars LTE on Verizon) is only 11 minutes away.

30 minutes away is Moaning Caverns, which is a must-do for the 45 minute tour at only $20/adult. About 40 minutes away is Mercer Caverns which we plan to see next time we camp here.

White Pines Lake is open to the public and is also in Arnold. The town of Murphys, with its historic Main Street filled with shops and restaurants, is 30 or so minutes away. And 40 minutes away is beautiful Lake Alpine.

Spot 2 in the North Grove campground is near Hwy 4. You can hear the highway traffic from that spot. Look at the Park map and try to get a spot on the other side of the park away from the Hwy.

The Oak Hollow campground area of this park is a few miles further into the park from the "main" North Grove campground and is way far away from the noisy traffic of Highway 4 and the deluge of day visitors at the Visitor Center and the North Grove of trees. Our 21-foot long campervan required no levelling at our site #109 which had plenty of room for our 2nd vehicle plus two tents. Walking the 2-mile long South Grove tree trail near the visitr center is easy for little ones. But, get away from the crowds and hike the longer North Grove trail or the Bradley Grove trail and take a dip in Beaver Creek after your hike! NO cell service at Oak Hollow. Wi-fi at the visitor center is good. Dump station is near the visitor center and available at no extra fee

I did not stay here, but can’t wait to! I came up here from Angels Camp to get out of the heat. This is a lovely and well-maintained campground with plenty to do in the area. Bathrooms and showers were clean and sites were spacious. Do some of the hikes/walks to Sequoias and the drive to the Stanislaus River. NO CELLULAR SERVICE! Rangers were super nice and really helpful. NO DOGS ON TRAILS! Wine tasting down the road in Murphys was so much fun!

Beautiful park! Stayed in North Grove, sites 3 and 4 very unlevel but glad we stayed there for access to the sequoias. Anywhere in North Grove is an easy 5-10 minute walk to the grove. Dogs not allowed on the trails but there’s plenty of nice spaces in the campground to walk them.

Dry camping, okay space between sites in the first loop. Quiet during the week in early June, the pass over the Sierras wasn’t open yet.

If you must have internet access and have an inverter, sites 8 and 9 MIGHT be able to work for Starlink, as they open onto a nice meadow. Or maybe the sites in the 60’s backing up to the meadow on the other side of the creek. Didn’t work in site 3.