I come here every year! I walk around and enjoy seeing the old, small town of Columbia that…read moresettlers founded. It is now recognized as Colombia State Historic Park. It has a one-room school house where students of different ages, once sat and listened together to their teacher's lectures, in harmony. I always visit the old cemetery where some members of The Donner family, who survived their perilous journey from Missouri to California during the gold rush, are buried. The old mercantile building and the Blacksmith stable where the horses were shoehorned and cared for, still stands. The countryside is beautiful. The hills and rivers are gorgeous. This is a great place for families and especially for children who should know our great history regarding brave settlers who traveled from far and wide, by horse and buggy (wagon trains of home crafted covered wagons). It is always such a nostalgic feeling going back in history for me. Enjoy this great town!

What an amazing day at Columbia State Park. Weather was good but starting to warm up in the…read moreafternoon , so was super nice most of the day. Bring a hat, and sunscreen Took my wife for mother's day up to Tuolumne county, While there tonight we would go to Columbia state park, my old stomping ground with the fire dept and working with cal fire, and there air retardant planes. Been along while but some of the memories are there. Meanwhile back at the trip forgive my ADHD brain. lol Columbia State park is awesome. If you like history of California and a lot of the gold rush , a good part is here and can learn and shop like you are in the old west. Yes that's right! The staff and such all wear clothing from that time. There is even a stage coach with beautiful huge horses. (If you are allergic they are easily avoidable, but from afar they are gorgeous. Yes I'm allergic, it sucks I love animals. If you are allergic just fyi) Anyways, if you never have gone, ? GO! If you like theater / Live Plays, be sure to check out the "Fallon House Theater", so you might be planning a nice little romantic date night, theater , and icecream .. Or a day trip with the family , there is some good restaurants in town and lots to do with familiy or loved one, candle making, which is a different shop, from the candle store... But you get my drift, theres lots to do, date night / day, or day out with the family....

Railtown State Historic Park is extremely cool and fun for all ages! We got to stand on the caboose…read morebuilt for Back To The Future III, viewed the train smoke stack from Little House on the Prairie train, coal powered steam engines, and we saw the Well from the olddddddd show Peticoat Junction: We also were able to see some old trains including ones with wooden grates in the front, and lots of train parts!! He enjoyed explaining things to me.. For a very small fee you can take a ride on a train. Walk around the grounds and see old engines, workshops with all sorts of parts, machines of all sorts. A map is providing for easy understanding of the grounds. It is a trek to get across the grounds and would be difficult for someone with mobility issues. Both of my children grew up coming to not only this park, but to Columbia also. Our family has made many trips here over the years. We love combining, education, history and adventure. They host Christmas events here like the Polar Express train ride to North Pole. This was such a spectacular event I brought my daughter to when she was little. We watched the movie the night before. When we arrived in our pajamas for our VIP seat, we stood in line where we were lovingly harassed by actors. We boarding the train after getting a golden ticket! We sat in the back car. Actors were dancing and singing and chasing hobos off the train while we enjoyed a ride and spilled hot cocoa out of polar express keepsake mugs. Arriving at North Pile and seeing the elves and Santa pushed it over the edge for my young daughter. She was beyonnnnnd excited!! Will I return: We always do. There's something incredibly nostalgic about this place!

This review is strictly for the 'Polar Express' holiday ride…read more Our family had high expectations for the polar express train ride. We were looking forward to a "magical" evening for the kids but the experience turned out to be what a huge disappointment and waste of money!! 45 minutes of the one hour ride was a slow churn in darkness through unkept brush. for $80 a person ($720 for the family), it is an insult to people and to the holiday! Shame on these people! Wow!! Wow!! Wooow!! That is what we kept saying as we approached the 'north pole' which was some farm equipment with lights on them, crudely painted wood and cardboard cutouts of reindeer and other christmas figures, horrible lighting, and a couple of people standing in costumes waiving. At $80 a person, this is a complete RIP OFF! We all agreed that at best it is not worth more than $20, Avoid this scam at all costs.

Up at cabin , getting cloudy , possible rain tomorrow! Home away from home. Neighbors are great,…read moremountains are beautiful.

Love the view at the top of the hill. Amazing history and a wonderful dog park. Plenty of area to…read morerun if you have 2 or 4 legs, vehicle accessible and bathrooms.

I was just bebopping around the Sierra foothills on a lazy weekend day this past summer. I was in…read moreJackson, CA, driving around. I happen to drove out to the Kennedy Tailing Wheels Park. Admission and parking is FREE. The park is created around the remains of the Kennedy Mine's Tailing wheels. The city even threw in a section for a dog park, but that area is a sad dirt patch with no shade. The main attraction of the park is the glass enclosed tailing wheel #4. It's 68 feet in diameter with 178 buckets. Quite an impressive sight. The Kennedy gold mine operations ran from mid 1850s through 1942 (the government shut down the operations to focus on due WW II efforts). The original wheels were located up the hill closer to the mine operations and moved to the park for display. The whelks were reassembled and laid out in reverse order. Wheel #4 is the only wheel restored. A portion of the financial assistance came from the local community. Awesome. Wheels 1 and 2 are across the street on the Kennedy mine property, not much of it is left. The Kennedy mine is now a tourist attraction. You can walk across the street to view wheels 1 and 2. They're viewable from afar behind the fence. Not much to look at though, just crumbled aged pieces of wood. Wheel #3 is near wheel #4. That wheel is also in disrepair and falling apart, but somewhat better condition than 1&2. Behind wheel #4 is Indian Gulch. That's the area where the mine waste carried from the tailing wheels ended up. In 1914, a dam was built so the mine waste was impounded to the dam basin. Another thing is the park is not flat and has slight elevation, and the strolling paths are not paved and have steps. The sights are viewable from the pave sidewalk/roadway. Amenities: restroom, picnic benches, strolling path shaded in areas by old Oak trees, and dog park.

Love the open space and how there are always other dogs here. The people are friendly, lots of…read moreregulars. We've been going for a year with no issues!

I love this dog park !…read more But.... Beware of the Karen's (far left and far right) They think they own the park and make up rules.

Beautiful park! We hiked around the North Grove and it was wonderful. The park is one of the most…read morewell maintained parks I have experienced. There is also a cute food truck near the visitor center that had the best garlic fries I have ever had. North Grove was really great for families with smaller kids. The hike wasn't too strenuous. We did the Overlook trail and it was around 2 miles. The kids had a few stops for snacks along the way but overall it was great for them.

Giant trees, wild mushroom, snow cover paths, and wild stuff animals - it was an adventure…read more -been wanted to check out the "GIANTS" and they didn't disappoint. I guess January is the most awesome time to visit. Whether was nice and warm, with snow play still available in the parking lot and on the trails. Perfect day to be outdoor. -Park is very well kept and accessible for all. The North Cove Trail was a walk in the pak with stunning display of different trees. Look carefully, wild mushroom has been inoculated and is ready for their debuted. -Visitor center and ranger were very informative. -Pro tip: if your family is the outdoorsy type, buy a California State Park Pass - include entrance to this place and you can skip the line when visiting on a busy weekend....

Love taking my dog here I come from Atwater and it's the closest one and better than Merceds but…read morehaven't seen any other dogs which is sad

I like this dog park! Sometimes there's other dogs to play with my fur baby and sometimes there…read moreisn't but I enjoy coming here because of the 2 separate gated areas for the dogs! I usually take my medium size dog to play on the big side with the huskies or bulldogs cuz they are more at his energy level. Always ask the dog owner if their dog is friendly because I've seen small little aggressive dogs who just like to mind their business which is why we end up on the big dog side! Would recommend this park!!

Beautiful dog park! It was very spacious with a lot of things for her dogs to have some fun…read more People who come here seem very friendly and respectful

The small dog side is nice for those of us with small breed dogs. There are benches with shade for…read morepet owners. Unfortunately I've been there twice when the same woman had her large breed dog (50 lbs) there and she refused to leave both times. She was extremely rude and wouldn't even leash her dog for us. We left.