Red Hills (Chinese Camp)
Chinese Camp (Tuolumne County) · near Chinese Camp · Gold Country & Central Valley
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 4 miles
- Elevation gain
- 500 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Late March–early May for serpentine wildflowers · Hot, dry, bleak in summer
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- BLM — no entry fee. Day-use only, no camping. Minimal signage; fully exposed.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Serpentine-soil wildflower endemics · Rare plants & red serpentine barrens · Seasonal creeks & ponds · Botanical ACEC
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Time it to mid-April and go slow with a flower guide — the draw is the tiny endemic species, not big views. Fully exposed; bring sun protection and water.
The guide
A designated botanical Area of Critical Environmental Concern, Red Hills is a spring wildflower destination prized for rare ser…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Red Hills (Chinese Camp) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.843, -120.458