North Grove Campground, near Arnold, California, is a fantastic spot for those looking to immerse themselves in the beauty of the Sequoias. With spacious sites that come equipped with picnic tables and fire rings, it’s perfect for gathering around the fire and enjoying the great outdoors.

This campground offers amenities like electric hookups and clean shower facilities, making your stay comfortable. Visitors have highlighted the nearby hiking trails and the stunning Stanislaus River, which is great for a refreshing swim. One camper noted, “The sites are a little close to each other but we were okay as a family with small kids,” emphasizing the family-friendly vibe here.

If you’re up for some adventure, the surrounding area is packed with trails and opportunities for kayaking. Plus, the campground is well-maintained, with friendly rangers ready to share insights about the local wildlife and history. Just keep an eye out for those pesky yellow jackets, as some campers have mentioned them buzzing around.

Whether you’re planning a family trip or a weekend getaway with friends, North Grove Campground has a lot to offer for a memorable outdoor experience.

North Grove Campground — Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Arnold is the perfect place for adventurous campers and RVers. There's so much to see and do, from exhilarating hikes or bike rides to exploring the local dining and shopping. Find the best campgrounds near Arnold, CA. Read reviews from campers like you and find your perfect campsite.

Arnold

The Best Camping Near Arnold, California

Beautiful place. We see many campers even in the winter. You need to make reservations. Enjoy these majestic trees!

Really big trees

This was my first trip to Calaveras Big Trees and these magnificent trees did not disappoint. Not only are the trees spectacular to look at but the campgrounds are one of my top favorites. There is plenty to do and trails to hike in this area, easy enough for families with children and rugged trail options for the more experienced hikers. The campsites are clean and spacious with large trees surrounding everywhere and the bathrooms at the campsites were well kept (which is a huge plus!). Definitely on my to-do list to come back and explore more.

Absolutely Breathtaking!

Loved visiting this state park. Safe campground, bear boxes, and beauty!

Good times in big trees

Beautiful State Park, well maintained. Will definitely return

Great campround

The energy from these trees is electric. The enormity and smell of the forest is enchanting. Highly recommend morning hikes because the freash smell of a dewy morning and the sun piercing through the trees is magical. 

Magical

I want to start off this review with one big caveat and that was we literally had the campground to ourselves, with the one exception of the hosts. Because of this I don’t feel like I can say our stay at this campground was representative of what it is normally like, but here’s my review nonetheless.

The campground was beautiful with a wide-open meadow in the middle and lovely late fall trees showing their colors during our November camping trip.

All the sites are located pretty tightly around one road and there are a few large group camps. However, like I said the place was stone quiet when we were there.

The is a nice trail around the campground and a short nature walk from the Visitor’s Center, but other than that not a lot of great hiking right from the campground.

One nearby hike leaves from the Beaver Creek Campground and is just a short drive from the park. We took the South Grove Trail which is approximately 5-miles out and back with about 1,500 feet of elevation gain.

We also did the Lava Bluffs Trail which is a short 2.54 miles round trip with a little under 800 feet of elevation gain.

Overall it’s a beautiful campground and a nice area of the state. Worth a visit for sure.

Beautiful Meadow Surrounded by Campsites

The experience of seeing the redwoods will live in my heart forever. I drove across the country to see them, &amp; I'd do it again in a second. This campground lets you sleep beneath these giants, breath their air, &amp; be near them if only for the day. Beautiful camground, very well maintained, great facilities.

Heaven

so peaceful. great for the warmer months as the trees and creek keep you cool. many beautiful trails to keep you busy and so much history. 

Gorgeous

Calaveras is, hands down, my favorite park in CA. It’s beauty and trees are unmatched anywhere in California. It is perfect for hiking, exploring, and nearby fishing. If you do any park besides the more well known ones in CA, do not pass this one up!


Otherworldly 

If you are visiting Calaveras Big Trees State Park, then you need to stay at this campground!!  The sites are large and spacious- we had a 34 foot RV and there was still plenty of space.  It’s perfect for groups with kids. There is so much to learn and explore here!! 

Perfect for kids and RV’s

We love camping but we had never camped with our kids. We decided to go to Calaveras Big Trees and camp with our two kids plus our friends kids which in total equaled seven. We thought we were crazy to go into the woods with a ton of kids. It was actually really fun and we enjoyed every little bit of it.

The first day was fun and the kids ran around all over the place. We did learn that they can't jump off the walking bridge because there is a small marsh and they were soaked up to their ankles. But it was a great learning experience for them. Explore but we a little cautious.

That first night was also very cold and we discovered we didn't bring enough warm blankets. We did have to go to town and buy an extra warm blanket. After the trip we made sure to buy some extra warm sleeping bags too. We made sure to rent two big spots so we can have enough room for everyone. The kids played volleyball at one site and we sat nearby so we can play games. It was nice to have the kids right next door but far enough so they can explore. They even built their own tee pee out of logs and covered it in pine cones. It made me think of Lord of the Flies as they worked together and sometimes fought. They settled everything and worked it out in the end.

Overall it was a great trip and we all enjoyed our walk through the Calaveras Big Trees. It was so fun and exciting. Our kids loved adventuring on their own with a bit of supervision here and there from one or more of the parents. Overall it was an amazing trip. We had a lot of fun.

Best Campground For Kids! 

I think this is my favorite California State Park. It is situated in the Calaveras Big Trees Giant Sequoia Grove.  

  

The campsites are spacious with lots of room between you and other campers, hot showers, great Visitors Center, campfire programs, puppet shows, self guided hikes, Stanislaus River, Beaver Creek, lots of wildlife, astronomy programs (we even got to see the International Space Station go overhead) and so much more.  

  

We saw a yearling doe with the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a deer, a fledgling osprey with a little hick-up in his first flight, lots of squirrels, chipmunks, and other critters, birds of all different colors. Just delightful.

  

Big Trees is close to explore the many little charming Gold Country Towns in the area and if you want to go out to dinner every kind of cuisine you can imagine.

  

You will have an awesome time at Calaveras Big Trees.

Calaveras Big Trees North Grove Campwith something for everyone

There are 4 cabins that can be rented from the Park Service however, they are not actually in the park. They are across the highway and up in the hills. We drove to the park but it's only short distance.

The cabins are great but expensive, $170 per night, so I deducted a star. They are rustic. No TV, no air conditioning (just ceiling fans), no bedding or towels. You bring your own.

Awesome Cabins!

My brother and I hit the north grove campground for the first time this past weekend. My expectations weren’t high but this place was great. 

The campground we chose was kind of close to the road which would have been the only real negative. The campground map makes it seem like the road was further away from the sites but I woke up a couple of times from road noise. 

Our campsite had a fire ring, bbq, picnic table and bear box and still had a large flat spot for my huge tent as well as parking for my car. 

The weather was great, no bugs to be found and plenty to do. I already want to go back next year but choose a site further from the road. 

Close to Perfect

Beautiful site, hiking trails close by, well maintained grounds. Bear came through our camp one night hit the Bear box and walked off.  Rangers were friendly and very informative about the area. Can’t wait to go back. 

Beautiful location

I would rate this much higher but there were 2 things I really didn't like. 
1 -the ground had soft powdered dirt.
2- the bees were so bad eating or drinking anything was difficult 
Outside of those two it would have been perfect. The site was really big and fairly level, close to the bath/showers/trash and extra parking. It is a few miles to a beautiful cascading river and then a few more tothe lake. The campgrounds in general are very well maintained and clean. Verizon works well at the check in but not in the campgrounds themselves. 



Beautiful area

My daughter and I were on a road trip from Long Beach, CA to Long Beach, WA this April and visited with friends in nearby Murphys. They recommended Big Trees State Park, so we swung by to see if we could nab a spot to camp; sadly, the campground was still closed for maintenance—tree clearing, parking lot paving, etc. 

  

We were able to take the walking tour of the North Grove and snuck a peek at the campground. The entire park is beautiful and well-maintained. We met an off-duty ranger while on the trail; she was giving her elderly father a personal tour. Despite, she spent some time sharing with my daughter points of interest and interesting facts/history. The on-duty rangers were equally as helpful and friendly.

  

We will be back to camp as the spots were really well-spaced and level; the campground had clean, modern facilities and great access to the trails. Absolutely gorgeous.

Beautiful

This is a super magical park! Giant trees, great visitor center and junior ranger program, and swimming in the Stanislaus river (cold but refreshing!!) 

Great park, beware the yellow jackets!

Great view, great facility and coin-based shower, great trails, great water access, very clean sites. 

The sites are a little close to each other but we were ok as a family with small kids. Other reviews complained about yellow jackets but we didn't see them. 

Amazing site in redwoods 

Pros - you are in the middle of the Sequoias, near hiking, kayaking, etc. Beautiful river nearby; pretty easy in and out for small-ish RVs. Hard to beat the location.

  

Cons - some road noise from Hwy 4, trucks going by were sometimes pretty noticible; some toilets and showers were pretty nice, some pretty beat up. Inconsistent pricing on the showers.

  

Overall impression - beautiful location, good for trailers, if you can get a flat spot a little farther away from the highway it would be better.

Super location, some road noise from the highway

Very nice park, great walking trails, beautiful trees. Many of the buildings are older, but well kept. Showers are coin operated and nice. No trailer hookups, but very site has a water but can’t connect it with the trailer. Park does have a dump station and is included in the space rent. Only issue is being by the road and having road noise. Plenty of restrooms and showers (coin operated). The only Wi-Fi is at the visitor center and VERY limited cell service, no great loss. 


Beautiful park

I prefer dispersed camping for the quiet and solitude but we met friends here who picked the campground.  That said, this is a nice established cg.  Not a lot of privacy (wide open so you can see everyone around you) but individual sites have room between them.  Campers when we were there were fairly quiet but even quiet sounds travel, especially at night.  Smoke from all the campfires is not great for people with asthma. Bathrooms are very nice: clean, flush toilets, and sinks with cold water taps.  Bear boxes provided. There’s lots of trails to hike here, an an extensive ranger station with a Visitor Center, snack bar, and organized talks and activities.  The big trees are exactly as advertised: incredibly big and awe-inspiring.  Just wish state parks would let you take your leashed dogs on the trails.  Otherwise, a very nice public campground if that’s your thing. 

Nice for an established campground 

Very clean, maintained campground. Flush toilets,  and showers available (tokens required). Our visit was late fall so not crowded at all. We were able to change to a more level campsite when we arrive - staff were very accommodating. Bear boxes,  large picnic tables, clean fire rings, and water at each site. We are planning to return for a longer stay to hike through the Sequoia groves. 

Photos of North Grove Campground — Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Real photos from real campers