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    Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

    4.5 (56 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

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    Grinding rock
    Stacy G.

    A hidden gem of a state park! We visited for Girl Scouts Love State Parks weekend. We got a tour of the museum, the grinding rocks, and even the round house, where no pictures are allowed due to it being a sacred space. I took a very short hike through the woods too. We learned so much about the Miwok Indians, who still hold traditional get togethers here.

    Museum
    David F.

    Indian Grinding Rock has always been one of my favorite state parks. It was the first state park my wife and I camped at years ago; my father and I would stop by here on our trips to Silver Lake, and our kids always loved the park as well. It had been a few years since our last visit when my wife and I stopped by on a spring weekday. This park is a little off the beaten path, and there were only a couple cars in the parking lot. We started first at the museum, and were impressed by the changes and upgrades since our last visit. Wonderful educational displays of the Miwoks and other tribes in the area, their daily life and history. The Ranger on duty was very friendly and gave us more information about the park and what was going on in general with the State park system these days. Turns out like everyone they are having trouble attracting and keeping people at the moment. We took a lovely trail that started just outside the museum and wound its way through lovely tree Woodlands. It was quiet and peaceful, and we were the only ones on the trail. It's mostly level, with some mild uphill, but the end of the loop was closed so you have to retrace your steps. We then wandered through the Miwok Village, a recreation of Village dwellings and spiritual gathering places. The highlight are the hundreds of acorn grinding holes in a large rock outcropping - the largest grinding rock in North America - that you can admire while standing on an overview deck. In the past, we used to be able to walk on the grinding rock directly, but wisely that is protected now. We also walked through the campground, and in early April during the week there were only a few campsites taken. But the Ranger told us it's very popular on the weekends, even in the spring, and a reservation is recommended. This park is a gem!

    Grinding rock
    J J.

    Easy, flat hike of less than 2 miles, but so rich in history. We loved every bit of the park, museum, hike and would highly recommend experiencing and learning about it yourself. $5 parking and registration, includes the museum walk through. Enough benches/picnic tables all around, including overhead shades. It's super hot around June-July - so don't forget your cap, sunglasses and a bottle of water. Recommend reading through all the info boards throughout the park and museum - full of rich history and cultural insights. Enjoy!

    Teepee village
    Janet M.

    Stopped in at Indian Grinding Rock State National Park to visit the museum and take a nice little hike to see the sights. This was so cool to see all the grinding rocks and see the TeePees and the Roundhouse. The museum was very informative about the Indians lives, rituals and traditions. They have a lot of artifacts, beautiful Indian baskets, tools they used, Head dresses that the Indians wore during ceremonial gatherings. This is a must stop in when you are visiting this area. It is $8.00 a car and that includes the museums and all the sights.

    Main Grinding Rock with Miwok Shelter Replica
    Kristian D.

    I've been to Indian Grinding Rock State Park a few times over the years. While the park is somewhat small, it's impact is rather large given the importance of grinding rocks on the native population. This park is on Pine Grove Volcano Road between Pine Grove and Volcano. Funny how that works! The park has an exhibit building that describes the history of the native people and the significance of the area. Over the years, people carved shallow holes in the exposed rock to grind acorns into flour similar to corn meal used as a primary food source. This meant the area was also a major social and political center where many deals and babies were likely made! The rock and other replica structures are the real draw and are still used by local native groups. You can hike back along the river and explore the grounds without too many people. It is a nice place to explore the natural landscape of the lower Sierras. There are a lot of interesting places to explore near Volcano in the lower Sierras. Indian Grinding Rock State Park is a nice way to expose yourself to the long native history of the area and it's importance to the area. It's a quick and good stop.

    Janet I.

    We stopped in to see the Chaw-se Indian museum and talk to the park ranger who explained so much about the Miwok Indians. It was fascinating and we enjoyed walking around and seeing the native plants and trees and Miwok village. What else when it's a dreary rainy day. The winter houses were interesting. I particularly enjoyed the huge baskets with the decorative designs used for cooking, and gathering acorns.

    Gregg R.

    Amazing experience because we had the entire park to ourselves with a private guided tour from Chloe. When we arrived, there was a group of kids just leaving so since they had extra staff, we were given the red carpet treatment. We first toured the Roundhouse, which is the setting for social events, and ceremonial events. Although we could not take pictures inside, we were allowed to view the interior. We then walked over to the grinding rock and Chloe was able to point out several petroglyphs that we would not have seen had she not pointed them out. We then were also able to see the Miwok village and game field. Very nice of Chloe to take us around and give us a personal tour of the park.

    Keegan P.

    What a great park and campground to visit! We were fortunate enough to stay at the campground for a few nights and also to have multiple visits to the state park. The museum and state park is peaceful, calm, and very educational. When we went, they just opened the museum so we were super lucky to visit and not a ton of people were around. The museum has a lot of artifacts as well as information and visuals for giving the history of the area and the Sierra Miwok people. For me, to visit the history of Native Americans is always a strange dialectic between a reminder of the great tragedies that befell and continue to impact modern Native Americans and appreciation of their culture. Being mindful of history so we do not repeat it is important. I'm glad I was able to learn in detail how the Miwok people lived. The Grinding Rock, reconstructed village, playing field, and other features around the park were impactful and fun to learn about. We took the south hiking trail twice over the days and learned much about the local ecosystem! There is a neat little guide at the beginning of the trail by the reconstructed village that will guide you to information posts along the trail. Highly recommend! The trail leads back to the campground/state park and takes about 30 minutes, mostly uphill so be aware of that. The north trail looks fun and I hope to visit it in the future. The campground was a wonderful experience and different in a few ways from other campgrounds. First off, the bathrooms were spotless and were cleaned everyday. That made a big difference for me as the showers were also very clean. The camp host is a great guy and his 6 month stay was almost up. He told us the campground is open year round, and gets some snow every year. He also said that the campground is never full, but recently weekends were pretty full, mostly due to covid I'm sure. We stayed at campsite 12, which was a good site. The whole campsite is elevated but they also have a couple of accessible campsites. It seemed that where people place their tents are not slanted or anything so that was good. Firewood is available for $5/bundle. Some people were pretty loud (when are they not) but all in all we appreciated our neighbors. I look forward to camping here again one day!

    Exquisite baskets made by various California tribes.
    Heidi M.

    My husband And I went to Indian Grinding Rock State Park for the first time this week. We were on a day trip to celebrate our thirteenth anniversary, and I wanted to stop somewhere beautiful and spiritual. This historical site definitely was the perfect destination. Located near a campground, the park is located in a quiet nature area near the town of Volcano. There is an entry/parking fee of $8.00 but it is worth it. Upon arrival, you can check out a museum designed to resemble a traditional roundhouse. In the museum there are many artifacts from coastal and valley tribes such as the Miwok and Maidu. The baskets on display are especially stunning. The information on the walls give you a good idea what life was like for the native people during the Gold Rush. There is also a nice little gift shop area where you can buy items made by members of the local tribes as well as books, t-shirts, and state park souvenirs. After checking out the museum, we walked along paths that led to the largest grinding rock in North America, an authentic roundhouse built in 1974, giant, majestic oak trees up to 400 years old, and teepee like dwellings called umachas (not sure if I spelled that correctly) made from cedar bark. The open spaces, soaring birds, and peaceful breeze on this summer day made this a memorable place. I highly recommend that others come check out this area.

    view of grinding rock and petroglyph area from paved road near the museum
    Wilhelm Y.

    We had been exploring the historic little town of Volcano for much of the morning then stopped to have sandwiches at Daffodil Hill. We were having such a nice time that we didn't arrive at the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park until mid-afternoon. It had been many years since I last visited this park, and I can sadly admit that I am now 0 for 2 in visiting the Chaw'se Regional Indian Museum. The museum closes at 3:00 PM on weekdays, and I just happened to miss that important fact in my trip planning. My friend had never been here before. So as it was my friend and I spent a couple of hours here anyway walking the North Trail and exploring the reconstructed Miwok village and the different grinding rocks. There are two nature trails within this park, and both feature much to learn about the region, its history, the nearby Indian tribes, the plants and the fauna. The North Trail is an easy one mile loop that takes visitors past all of the key exhibits within the park while the South Trail is a half mile loop which explores more plant life and gives visitors a glimpse of the campsite area. There are printed trail guides available at the trailheads to help you examine and understand what you are seeing. I've always enjoyed seeing the Miwok village here which features the cone shaped bark houses, a ceremonial Roundhouse and a game field. There is a wooden platform built above the grinding rocks and petroglyph area to protect it from harmful visitors. The picnic area is well kept with picnic tables and grill pits available on a first-come, first-serve basis. I'll keep my review short as I plan to return in time to actually go inside the museum. Also, I've only posted a handful of photos as the photos posted by previous reviewers seem more useful.

    Wood huts & beautiful trees/meadow

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    4 years ago

    As a teacher, I brought my students here many times. Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Great experience

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    3 years ago

    Sense of peace, great hiking, informative museum, knowledgeable, friendly staff. The Big Time is a great introduction to current culture.

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    This is a nice park for the entire family, but I wish we could bring our dog on the hiking trails.

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    Ask the Community - Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

    Review Highlights - Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

    Docents Jeff and Terry were so knowledgeable and passionate about sharing their knowledge of the Miwok people.

    Mentioned in 10 reviews

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    Stayed here 6/25 in site 21. Nice camp grounds. The pot holes on the road in are very big so it…read moretakes a long time to drive the last 5 miles. The trash dumpsters were full when we got there and were over full when we left. For having valt toilets they were clean. We will go back again.

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    Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park - campgrounds - Updated August 2026

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