ABOUT IRONWOOD CAMPGROUND: We had never been to this area before. It was beautiful and we’ll definitely come back here again. The reason we were here was to visit Soulsbyville where Rob’s grandparents lived when he was a child.
The park is in Calaveras County, California. There are two recreation areas that surround New Melones Lake, operated by the Bureau of Reclamation: Glory Hole Recreation Area and Tuttletown Recreation Area. Within the recreation areas are 4 campgrounds for public use. Two of those campgrounds were closed for the season when we were here. Ironhorse Campground, where we stayed, is in Glory Hole; Manzanita Campground, which we drove through, is in Tuttletown. Both campgrounds have boat launches, and fishing, boating, and water sports are extremely popular in season. We preferred Ironhorse to Manzanita – newer campground, bigger & better spacing of sites.
Ironhorse Campground has a marina which opens in May. The full boat storage area was filled with large party boats. There are hiking trails along the lake and nearby fish cleaning stations. There’s an amphitheater, swim beach, and biking trails. Ironhorse had 87 campsites spread nicely across rolling hills. Most can accommodate RVs, trailers, and tents, while 20 campsites are designed as walk-in, tents only. Some campsites have at least partial shade from mature oak trees, but others have limited or no shade. We had site #59 which was the last one in the row; beyond us was the parking area for some of the walk-in sites. It was a private campsite and there was plenty of room for the screened tent. Osprey were nesting by the parking area and we could easily see them from the tent and RV. Many other birds visited the area we were camping in. The site across from us, #57, was also a good site in case this one was already booked. The lake and surrounding hills and trees are beautiful.
We stayed three nights, over a weekend. Friday and Saturday nights were busy, but not bad where we were. Check-in was 3 p.m. Check-out was 2 p.m. Off-season the check-in time was not enforced (we came in around lunch time). Cost is $22 per night minus 50% off for Federal Senior Pass plus $8 per usage reservation fee and tax. There were no hook-ups and the dump station was down while we were there (dumping could be done at Tuttletown Recreation Area). There is a fee to use the dump stations: $8 if you are a registered camper or $4 if you are registered and a senior. Water was available at spigots throughout the park – we had a spigot across from our site and could get water with a hose whenever we needed it. There were restrooms, showers, and each site had a picnic table and fire ring.
Ironhorse Campground, Glory Hole Recreation Area, New Melones Lake: 6503 Glory Hole Road, Angels Camp, CA 95222; located off Highway 49 on Glory Hole Road, a nice drive from Lodi; phone (209) 536-9094; reservations www.recreation.gov.
- 2022 – 03/17-03/20