Casewell Memorial State Park (Aug 2007)

Casewell Memorial state park is our favorite camping site. This was our third visit to this camp site. The park is located along the Stanislaus River near the town of Ripon, California. The Stanislaus River meanders through the park, with beaches and swimming areas near the park’s day use and campground facilities.

The camp sites are very spacious and there is lot of room for the tents. Most of the campsites are covered with shades from the tree. This campground is usually very hot during the summer. So the river that meanders through the park will be with full of water activities ranging from swimming, tubing, sun bathing etc. We spent close to 4 hours in the river.

The hiking trails were not very exciting though, as there were no encounters during the hiking. The park offers ranger programs during summer, however it was not available when we visited. My parents also came with us to this camping, however they stayed at the near by motel during the night. We hope to visit again this park in future a few more times.

San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area (May 2007)

San Luis Reservoir campground was third camping experience. We always preferred Casewell memorial, but this time was open to try a new camping location. It is nestled in the grassy hills of the western San Joaquin Valley near historic Pacheco Pass. The area around San Luis Reservoir is often very windy, and winds can come up quite suddenly.

On Day 1, with the help of GPS we reached a dead end instead of the campground. Then with the help from a near by gas station, we successfully reached the campground. It was very hot and to make things further worse, there was no trees to provide shade in our camp site. The wind was blowing full speed, and it threatened to take away our tent. As the day settled, it started to become cold with the wind. There was no respite from the wind. However the camp fire from the barbecue pit gave us the relief.

On Day 2, we went to the nearby beach, but could not find any location for kids to either swim or play in the water. The water was very untidy and we returned back to our campsite. After coming to the campground, we went for hiking to the nearby mountain, which was full of dry grass. Later in the day, we barbecued all the chicken and fish we had, and went to sleep promptly at 10:00PM (never happened during any of our camping).

On Day 3, we quickly had our breakfast, packed our stuff and returned back. In future, we will never return this camp ground, as it offered no interest either for adults or the kids.