Very clean and well kept. full of various activities for the whole family. The family and I very…read moremuch enjoy going there every time.

Yeah a playground near the I-5! It's about 4 miles off the highway in town of Button Willow. Great…read morepit stop on trek from Bay Area to LA. Large Playground, clean bathrooms, covered picnic tables.

This park is beautiful. I wish the parks in Bakersfield looked as good and were taken care of like…read morethis. I am not saying much, I will let yhe photos speak for themselves. Even the restroom was clean.

On a road trip and stopped here to stretch the legs and get the dogs out for a little walk. What a…read morebeautiful park! So many birds singing and the beautiful trees offering amazing shade in the heat. Clean bathrooms and fun things for kids to play with and discover here. Highly recommend this park if youre traveling through and need some fresh air and green grass to enjoy.

I don't know how to even describe this park, maybe, magical... The sequoias are majestic with sugar…read morepines sprinkled all around. I was here with the Sisters Corp. to do some volunteer work. I did not want to miss the opportunity to give my time for this beautiful place. This is my first time to visit this National Park and I know now it will not be my last. My first day at the volunteer camp group site as we gathered at the table to meet each other and go over the agenda for the weekend we had the opportunity to see a black bear casually roam through our campground near the tents (one of them was mine). We were all informed prior to arriving not to leave any scented items in the tents. No one wonder the bear kept moving along, but with the help of our camp host shooing it away from the campground. This is something we learned from the rangers, is to shoo them away so they don't get in the habit of coming around. The park offers many hiking trails, I had the chance to do one of many, which was the Long Meadow Trail. Very beautiful, plenty of foliage and evidence of a bear in the area. Another part of the park I got to visit was General Sherman. There is a park ranger that will tell you the history of the General Sherman tree. You can wait in a long line to take a pic in front of the tree with a General Sherman sign. Or you can take a pic around the fenced majestic tree. I choose not to wait in line. I had the chance to shuttle to General Sherman tree from the Museum. The Shuttle is free and seems to come every 10-15 min. From General Sherman I also shuttled to the Lodgepole marketplace and visitor center. In this area are bathrooms with showers (coin operated, quarters). The Marketplace has an area to order some food and also a section where you can purchase some ice cream by the scoop. The store offers assorted ice cream bars. The visitor center offers gift items as well as the marketplace. At the front of the visitor center they had a ranger available at a booth if you had any questions. This place is quite busy! Parking lot is a madhouse. Nearby is a campground you may want to check out or ask the ranger for some info. If you can, arrive early, find parking at the Museum and shuttle to everything if you can. Warning, when I was doing volunteer work in the parking lot across from the museum we witnessed a black bear enjoying some berries in the bushes. I'm not sure if they will venture into the parking lot with a lot human activity going on but be careful what you leave in your car, anything and everything with a scent. The park has so much to see. I look forward to returning to volunteer and to take advantage of what the park has to offer.

Best national park I've ever been to and that's saying a lot…read more It's magical, and I highly recommend getting to the Sherman trailhead prior to 9:30am if you want a parking spot. Takes about an hour to get in there, up there and parked so plan accordingly. The congress trail was amazing and for a 3.5 mile hike it took about 2.5 hours with frequent stops for pictures. Highly recommend a stop at lodge pole for refreshments and merch. Incredible experience from start to finish.

This is a well maintained area with a beautiful landscape. There are clean, open bathrooms…read moreavailable. Lots of picnic style tables and grills to use. They host fun activities for community engagement. A fun playground for kids to enjoy. Basketball courts too. They stock for fishing too. Come enjoy and relax.

Today, I wanted to take my granddaughter to feed the ducks. When we pulled up, there were three elk…read moreright in front of us. We just sat in the car and looked at them for a while. This park is so beautiful, and then to have the treat of the elk right in front of us was amazing. It is so awesome how they just live among the people here in the community. Nobody bothers them, and they don't bother anyone. It's a beautiful thing. They are so majestic. I literally could've sat there for hours just watching them, but my granddaughter wanted to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, there weren't really any to feed. Another thing I wanna mention is the bathrooms here are so clean, not something you always find at a park. This is a great place to go to have a picnic and spend some family time. My granddaughter was already asking me when we can go back. 9/28/25

Mannel Park is one of the original parks in Shafter and one of the oldest parks in Kern County!…read moreIt's fully shaded with large established trees and is decently lit for evenings. The park is surrounded by a quiet residential area and the local high school to one corner. There's plenty of picnic areas and bbq's. It can get quite busy on the weekends and is recommended that you reserve a spot ahead of time online (http://www.shafter.com/DocumentCenter/View/3494) There's even a cute gazebo in the park that is the focal point of many community events.

Love this park it has the best scenery in Tulare! Love making new memories here, very quiet and…read morepeaceful, love how everyone enjoys themselves here.

This park is gorgeous. There is plenty of space to explore and have a picnic. There is also a lot…read moreof great wildlife like peacocks, ducks, and Jack rabbits. This is definitely a picturesque place to relax and enjoy nature. It started to rain the day we went, but next time I'd love to stay and enjoy the outdoors a bit longer.

A long road trip for a toddler can be tough. No toddler wants to sit in a car seat for more than a…read morecouple hours. My son is no exception. When traveling from So Cal to Nor Cal we wanted to make a few stops to allow my toddler to run around and expend some energy. Enter Paramount Park in Lost Hills. It's right off the 5 freeway, about 1 1/2 miles from the freeway. Nice park with a soccer field, basketball court, water play (for the summers), picnic tables, and playground for the kiddos. We grabbed some grub from one of the fast food joints, ate it here, and allowed my son to run around play. The park is very well maintained. The bathrooms are pretty clean too. And this is coming from someone who never uses park bathrooms. So if you have a little one or dogs that need to run around then definitely check out Paramount Park. When making a trip from So Cal to Nor Cal we will definitely be stopping by this park again.

This is not a place you just stumble into, even if you know where it is! I'm glad I finally, after…read moremany years of dreaming, was able to spend an afternoon here on a recent road trip down 99. It is a place that seems so desolate, even though not far from towns and cities, and my first thought was "how was this a bustling city of hundreds of folks just one hundred years ago. Yet, when I took the time to visit the buildings - each and every one of them - I began to get the big picture and see what may have been, although much is missing. When I drove in, I was literally the only one in town. There were a few cars and trailers next door by the RV/camp area, past the old schoolhouse, but no one in the park proper. I started with the visitor center, which is a nondescript trailer next to elevated decks and tables, next to a green lawn - the only one you'll pretty much see here - and an amazing mound of various cacti! The center is simple, with a space and chairs for offerings, and exhibits to whet your appetite. Included are artifacts from the town, clothing from the era, and the medals worn by Colonel Allensworth. Seeing these in old black and white photos, then seeing them in person in living 3-D color, is moving. Before you visit, though, you MUST do your research about Col. Allensworth, his life and legacy, and the town in general. It's history is a needed basis for the time you will want to spend here. After the visitor center, I set off to visit each building, going counter-clockwise, starting with the "new" schoolhouse next to the visitor center. All the buildings here, outhouses exempted, have information placards about the structure, as well as codes for accessing on your phone audio presentations about the building and the people who lived and/or worked in that building. These really flesh out the life of the town, as you meet everyone from the founders, to the leaders, to the business folk and farmers, and blacksmiths and storekeepers, and librarians and constables, and all the others who called this area home. One thing that struck me, as I was reading and listening to these histories, was how many people moved here from other areas. Some came from Bakersfield and Fresno, rather close, but others came from Alameda and Oakland, up in my area, and not a quick trip in those days, as well as other popular Southern California towns. This tells me how strong this city of Allensworth was at its heyday, to draw people into the central valley to join in a common effort of life and success. Amazing stories, indeed. The buildings have been restored after decades of neglect and material theft, but they are close, if not exact, replicas. Each building can be walked up to, but is not open. However, you can, and should, walk around and look in any windows you can reach. The windows seem to have a covering that reflects the UV rays of the ever-present sun, so from a distance, there is no way to see inside. But when you get close and put your face to the window, most of the buildings offer an interior view of what that building likely looked like in the past. Some of my photos show these interiors. This is why you really need to visit each, if not most, of the buildings to get the most of what this place offers. I was blessed to encounter two California State Parks interpretive rangers who were about to film a presentation at Allensworth's home while I was there, and they graciously offered me a peek inside as they set up. What a moment, to stand in the Allensworth house and see what they called home for many years. I wish more places were accessible like this, but given the location and scarcity of folks here, for other than the two rangers and three park maintenance workers, it was empty, I can see why they need to keep the buildings safe. For me, the whole time spent here was several hours and a few miles walked. Be sure to wear sun protection, as there is very little shade left. I could chat all day about the park and what it offers, but there are many great online resources on its history, with good photos, maps, and other information to help you plan a visit here. I took about 150 photos, but have only offered a sampling here, again, to whet YOUR appetite for a visit! The park is a diamond among gems for me, not for what it is lacking, but for what it tries to share - a history hidden, and a place of dreams and hopes left to languish in the valley sun. History is not always exciting, or aesthetic, or comfortable, and my time here reminded me of how these settlers built a living city from barren, dry, hot soil. Indeed, a great reminder of why this park is important for what it offers - a small step back into the history of Allensworth and its townspeople.

Free to enter for day use…read more Came during a holiday afternoon. There were a few cars around. You could also camp here. It was $20 without hookup and $30 with hookup. Seniors get $2 off a night. It's a state park so it's 50% off with the State Parks Disabled Discount Pass. The restroom was next to the Visitor's Center. The toilets were flushable. There were plenty of stalls and there was soap in the soap dispenser. The Visitor's Center was really small and unattended. We couldn't get into any other buildings. Really cool to learn about this amazing town. Overall, a really nice park with a history.