caswell memorial state park

My daughter loves to walk by the river & caswell has some nice spots for a day out. I've never camped there as we are local & I'd feel silly sleeping in a tent with my house & flushing toilet 2 miles away.

We went here a few years ago to see what it was like. We were disappointed. We pictured rolling lawns, park benches, picnic benches, shade trees, easy access to the water, fishing, etc. We found dry grasses, not a lot of shade at all, predominantly a rougher looking crowd, and very rocky and rough access to the water.

I enjoyed the walk until it rained. But please update the cost of $10 which is too much for a little hike and use of bathroom. There are no maps of park or trails which should be available.

We spent 5 days loved it. We are both 70, everything close and convenient. Bathrooms veryclean and equipt. Showers clean and hot 4 quarters. Swimming and fishing hard to get to down hill but we mde it not to swim just fish never got a bite. By the way no one younger than 50 had a problemThe campsites are large and most have a lot of shade. All have tables,firerings and 3 shelvedbear lockers to keep your food( biggest wildlife we saw was 2 grey squirrels)The Rangers quite friendly , Camp host very nice and helpful. You know us old folks if we aint complaining nobody should

This state park is in"my backyard" (about 6 miles away) so we bicycle here often. It is well shaded by natural old growth valley oaks and river birch. The river beaches are nice and generally kept clean. It is a popular rafting take-out spot.

We camped here in July as it was the only worthy state park near where we needed to go, a long ways from our home. We researched it ahead of time and ignored any negative reviews. Glad we did! We truly enjoyed it! It was such a unique place being a Riparian habitat around the Stanislaus River, in the middle of the valley. The trees made it quite comfortable even though it was warm. It wasn't very crowded and the people we did meet were from the Bay Area and were very nice. The only problem was we chose a site right next to the main camp beach access so we did have a lot of people pass by our camp, so we ignored them. We did bring our raft so the easy access to to the river beach was awesome. We went out 2-3 times and rafted down the river a little ways. Watch out for the current! Wildlife we saw: quail, birds, bats, squirrels and fish. We didn't see any of the raptors that they boast about. Nearby cows wander alogn the bank across the river...which did gross us out slightly but, hey, just don't swallow the water or dunk your head! The cool of the river and the small beach were quite satisfying from the heat. In the morning we went on a hike in the trails near the day use area - that was sad. Pick up after yourselves people! The trails themselves were fine although very overgrown with wild grape vines. We walked around the park a bit and saw so many sites we would have loved to camp at. Each has a food locker although there's no bears and I highly doubt any mountain lions or anything. Your worst food enemy is the squirrel, although they posed no threat like thay can at otehr state parks. Maybe it was the heat...If we ever go back that way and need a place to stay, this will be it. This place is truly a hidden gem.

The place is so run down, most patches of grass gone, dirty, not kept up. I can't imagine camping there, especially in the summer when it's in the 100's. There are much better places to visit.