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Sites are located along California Creek. Good shade provided by pine and fir trees. Located near Bull Buck Trail. Parking Lot; restroom; historical sites; nature trails. Beyond the campsite there are various giant sequoia trees that you can visit. We advise everyone to stay on the trail, and to stay behind the fences guarding the trees preserving their beauty for the future generations. This summer we are expecting a large number of visitors so please plan for delays, thank you.
Take Hwy 41 north from Fresno; continue thru Oakhurst to Sky Ranch Road (6S10), which is also Forest Road 10, travel 6.6 miles turn left on 6S47Y, go 1.2 miles to the fork in the road, continue right on 6S90 for 3/10 of a mile, turn left at Nelder Grove campground sign, travel 5/10 of a mile to campground.
We walked to nelder grove from the road because of the heavy snow, still can't believe we did it, but on reflection, an amazing experience and we found a massive tree!!! It is called under cut, no one else around because of the deep snow, great experience! We want to return!
Amazing! Chimney trail is 1.4 mike loop through multiple giant sequoia trees. There are old cabins near parking/trailhead.
We came here after doing two days in Yosemite Valley. Of course the valley is beautiful, but it was such a relief to get away from people and have a trail to ourselves. And the giant sequoias! Yowza! This time of year the trails were wet, and we had to climb over downed trees across the trail, but that only made me love it more. Totally worth a stop. The route there was twisty, and it was a pitted uphill dirt road at the end, but our rental Malibu made it up just fine.
We visited in the shoulder season (late october) and the whole place was blissfully uncrowded even on a Saturday. There were handful of people. No doubt the unpaved but good roads kept people away. I imagine there are alot more people at Mariposa Grove.
The trees aren't as plentiful and uniformly huge as those at Mariposa Grove but still quite impressive, especially the bull buck tree and the chimney tree. These trees can be visited in a short, flat 2 mile trail. Well worth the visit. A more ambitious 5+ mile hike will bring you to more.
During late October some of the trees are exhibiting fall colors.see photos.
October is also an excellent time to camp here. Lots of open spots and the temps are perfect.
Note the Shadow of the Giants trail is closed in 2018 due to the fires of 2019.
When I went in spring of 2021 there was lots of debris on trail and large fallen trees to cross due to a winter wind storm. There was damage to some structures. It was closed later in the season due to hazard trees so please check with the Bass Lake ranger station before you go.
Be careful not to block people in when parking and cause a traffic nightmare. Also be careful not to get lost on faint sections of trail. Shadow of the Giants trail is closed indefinitely due to the railroad fire destroying that portion of the grove.
