Best Cabin Camping near Oakdale, CA

I wanted somewhere not too far to go and stay when my 5-6 year-old had 5 days off from school. This was perfect in so many ways.

Positives

- Amenities! I love how everything was themed, from the street names to the signs. Two nice playgrounds, ball courts, pool and hot tub. Watching your kids play red light/green light on the jumping pillow put a smile on every parent's face.

- Seasonal programming (weekends only). For October, we did an outdoor movie, magic pumpkins, costume contest, trick or treating, hay ride, and haunted house. My daughter loved everything except the haunted house, which she said was "too scary!"

- Clean, comfortable facilities. Lots of ways to stay. We car camped and found the hook ups really easy to use. Water, drain, 3 types of electricity, picnic table and firepit at every site. We used their bathrooms and showers and was impressed by how clean they were. Most of the time we had them completely to ourselves and they were even climate controlled.

- Restaurant. I cooked breakfast and lunch most days at the campsite, but for dinner we splashed out at the kid-friendly Waterfront Grille. Friendly staff, good food (lobster and prime rib, yum!), amazing views of the sunset.

Negatives

- Water park was closed. Call ahead to see if it is open when you want to go. I heard that it is never open because of some issue with permits or drought. If so, the promotional video is misleading and I almost deducted a star for this.

- Expensive. For camping, it is expensive, but think of it more as a theme park/resort, than true camping. We saved on the cabin and RV, and spent on the optional activities and the fancy meals.

Bottom line, I would totally go back and stay as long as I could. I hear it is super crowded in the summer, but it would be worth it if the water park is open.

Cabin had bunk beds. Small refrigerator

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.

FHU and Electric/water sites. Also has cabins, yurts, covered wagons you can rent. Has pool, playground and petting zoo. Well kept and easy to work with

2 adults and 1 kid in the basic cabin over Easter weekend a few years ago. We really enjoyed our stay and the property. Petting zoo animals were adorable. Nice location to Yosemite. Friendly interactions with staff.

Ashley here with The Dyrt. I want to extend a warm welcome to your host, Joanna. This property is so unique! I love the rich history behind it. The cabin boasts a king sized bed. We're excited to have them on The Dyrt!

It wasn’t as nice as the photos depicted. Water shortage? The grasses were long and dried up, there appears to have been a wooden bridge as a shortcut to the pool/restroom/laundry room/Deli, but no longer. The restrooms were barely tolerable and the woman’s had a bad odor. There’s a dishwashing station that is no longer serviceable, just a stainless sink set in a covered table with no water or even plumbing to include drains. You have to pay for WiFi and sometimes the signal drops. For the cost of the campground the WiFi should be free! Lesser known campgrounds even have free WiFi. There are Conestoga Wagons, Cabins and Yurts. None were occupied. Reason?

With a pool, petting zoo, a corral where they have a fire and s'mores followed by a movie, this is a great place to camp with the kids.

The showers are free and usually clean although on Saturday evening the campground was full and the bathrooms were dirty and out of TP.

There are tent sites, RV sites and cabins so something for everyone.

There were A LOT of stray cats on the property which kind of drove our dog crazy. But at least the campground is pet friendly.

If you plan to go into Yosemite NP, it's a long drive so plan accordingly. Our family really enjoys Rainbow Pools and Yosemite Pine's proximity to Rainbow Pools is part of why we stay here. The kids can jump and swim there and that's all they really want to do anyway so being close to that is key for us. So many of the places in the park where we used to get in the water do not allow swimming anymore.

It’s a cozy place with boat rentals! Plenty of shade and bathrooms available. Only reason got 4 star is the constant blue-green algae, making the water unavailable for swimming. Regardless of that, you can still fish and go on boat rides.

Great place for a quick getaway with some friends or family. Enjoyed walking around and taking in the views. Saw some deer, rabbits, and hummingbirds. Enjoyed hanging out by the lake.

Staff is very friendly. Bathrooms were clean.

I had a very different take on this place than the others. The RV spot was a fair distance from the neighboring spots, it was low-density, quite, all good qualities, but there was very little see or do near the loop. There were no hikes suitable for young kids as far as I could tell. There was a little store for ice cream and camping supplies and dump station on the loop.  HOWEVER, WARNING: the road around the campground looks wide but there are boulders every 10 feet or so making it insanely hard to back into our spot - and we had only a 22ft trailer! I can't see myself coming back here. The maps do accurately depict the relatively narrow space you have for back in spots. Once we were in, it was fine.  The pedestal and sewer set-up was just fine. No issues there. It's just not worth the hassle. 

As for the park/water part of the park, well, it was covered in garbage from the day-trippers. It was packed and only accessible by driving to it. Truly not a place I wanted to BBQ or picnic at.  Cars, people, dogs, loud music, and garbage. A gross diaper on the shore.     We took a very nice hike starting at the dog run. That was beautiful, but not worth the trip.

I didn't bother to photograph our site. There were all adequate, just avoid back in site here. There are so many better places to visit.  I checked this off the list, no reason to return. I don't believe there was reception either from the campsite.

Last thing, we peaked in on the cabins in our loop. They looks very nice and maintained.

We go with several families with kids 5-13 and they all have a blast. The price per night is very expensive but there are a lot of amenities. Nice playground, basketball court, volleyball, bouncy pillow, outdoor movies, pool, lazy river, water park, bumper boats, laser tag, boat rentals on the delta, restaurants and quick bites. There is an ice cream shop, general store, and crafts some free some for purchase $7-$30. We went for Christmas in July and Santa was there for pictures, we go for Halloween and there is trick or treating through the whole place, a haunted house and a decor and costume contest. Our kids really enjoy the freedom to go play while the adults sit back and relax.

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!

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.

We visited a couple times and have enjoyed it. Staff is friendly and helpful. The kids had fun playing at the playground, jet skiing, and making sand castles at the beach.

Wow, let's say we had a nightmare ishhorrible experience. We rented a tent camp site for 2 nights. We were given an RV Slab camping site. It had the tiniest barbecue grill available. The water that was coming out of all the faucets,  was red and brown. People weren't allowed to shower that night. Once night fall came, the camp's site was infested with roaches Everywhere, they went in all our grocery bags and under them. Went into and under all our boxes that we had. The roaches hid under our tents also. There also seemed to be a termite infestation. We had to cut our camping trip short after spending over a thousand dollars on supplies, food, the Camping site and parking fees The workers that drove by, especially Travis, were nice and Welcoming. Dogs have to be on a leash at all times. If you want to go into the lake with your dog, You have to walk very far away if you didn't rent one of the tent sites at the lake front area. Had to fumigate my vehicle when I got home with all my stuff in it. I pray none of the bugs will be in my stuff at home. I heard many other guests screeching and shouting, omg theres cockroaches every where. Good to know, we weren't the only ones disappointed. The owner Jake refused to refund me, or my two guests that wasted their 50 dollars in parking fees, although the trip was cut short due to the conditions. Jake offered for us to stay another night. Will never be back. Beware.

We spent one night right in front of the water, amazing view for the sunset. It’s true that bathroom / toilets / showers aren’t clean, they are quite old.

But we didn’t care, the view worth it. We went swimming in the lake : what a pleasure. We saw some squirrels and dears, they didn’t bothered us.

It was super calm. The crew was nice with us and let us spend only one night here for 50$ (the minimum should be 2 nights)

I recommend this place!

(Also, it’s right halfway between Yosemite and San Francisco: which was perfect for us)