Pines Group Stanislaus

Overall, good campsite for group camping and we had a great experience.
Pros: This campsite is big. It has enough space for several tents and parking for 5 to 10 cars at the site (although 10 would be a tight squeeze). We had 4 tents in our group and they only occupied one corner of the site. Loved the fire ring and the seating around it. And it has multiple cooking spots and multiple picnic tables to facilitate big groups breaking down into smaller cooking groups,. For us, the main ring was sufficient. They also provided 3 big firewood logs that lasted us for the evening.
Cons: Although there is large enough space, the ground is full off small rocks/pebbles and we had to do a good bit of cleanup of these rocks. At the time of our camping, there is a decent amount of wind coming in a blowing a lot of dust at us. The corner we camped at has a big of dry grass and so we camped here for that reason.

The campground is right next to smaller sites but far enough for privacy. There's a busy road nearby, and a busy ranger training station lookout, its not as secluded but for Yosemity visits its perfectly placed a few minutes from the entrance. When you drive into the site you'll see a few individual sites, the group site is towards the end of the road that is towards the restrooms. The location on this website was just a bit off but we where able to find it using Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wwjq8Sab2PLfRCPt8

Beautiful spacious group site. Plenty of privacy for the group. 45 minutes from Yosemite entrance. 7 mi from Rainbow pool. Lots of shade around the circle. The middle section is used for our kitchen and activities. It has no shade so we put out several canopies. There are benches around the firepit so we don't need to pack as many chairs for our group.

Beautiful spacious group site. Plenty of privacy for the group. 45 minutes from Yosemite entrance. 7 mi from Rainbow pool. Lots of shade around the circle. The middle section is used for our kitchen and activities. It has no shade so we put out several canopies. There are benches around the firepit so we don't need to pack as many chairs for our group.

Nice group spot, near the very clean vault toilets. Stayed here with a group before whitewater rafting.

Nice group spot, near the very clean vault toilets. Stayed here with a group before whitewater rafting.

This was a wonderful group campsite. There are six tables, two sets of two of which are put together to make long dining tables. The campfire ring is the largest I have ever seen! There is plenty of tent space, as the site is mostly open with few trees within the site. There are pit toilets, which were clean, always stocked with toilet paper, and had air fresheners in them which dealt with most of the smell. The campground host and the contractor who runs the site drove up shortly after we arrived and checked in with us about the campground rules and policies, and let us know that any deadfall was up for grabs for campfires. There were quite a few burn piles around the campground so we were set for wood for our fires, which was awesome. The campground is only 16 mi from the west gate of Yosemite, so we were able to leave the campground around 6:45 in the morning on Saturday and make it into Yosemite without getting stuck in the entry lines. Another group spent the day hiking in Hetch Hetchy, which was even closer. The one improvement I would make is to add another bear container to the site. Currently there are two, and with just 17 people we had them pretty stuffed. Granted, we did overpack quite a lot on food. If we were at the limit, we would not have had enough container space for all of our food.

This was a wonderful group campsite. There are six tables, two sets of two of which are put together to make long dining tables. The campfire ring is the largest I have ever seen! There is plenty of tent space, as the site is mostly open with few trees within the site. There are pit toilets, which were clean, always stocked with toilet paper, and had air fresheners in them which dealt with most of the smell. The campground host and the contractor who runs the site drove up shortly after we arrived and checked in with us about the campground rules and policies, and let us know that any deadfall was up for grabs for campfires. There were quite a few burn piles around the campground so we were set for wood for our fires, which was awesome. The campground is only 16 mi from the west gate of Yosemite, so we were able to leave the campground around 6:45 in the morning on Saturday and make it into Yosemite without getting stuck in the entry lines. Another group spent the day hiking in Hetch Hetchy, which was even closer. The one improvement I would make is to add another bear container to the site. Currently there are two, and with just 17 people we had them pretty stuffed. Granted, we did overpack quite a lot on food. If we were at the limit, we would not have had enough container space for all of our food.

The restrooms are unbelievable clean.

The restrooms are unbelievable clean.