Dos Rios State Park

Dos Rios State Park is California's newest state park, opened to the public on June 12, 2024, located at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers about eight miles west of Modesto near the town of Grayson. At 1,600 acres, it is the largest floodplain restoration project in California, converting former private farmland back into riparian forest and wetland habitat that supports threatened and endangered species, including the valley elderberry longhorn beetle and riparian brush rabbit, along with migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway.

Visitors can currently hike the 3.8-mile out-and-back Confluence Trail or the 1.85-mile Pond Loop Trail, picnic at shaded ramadas along the pond, fish designated stretches of the two rivers, and go birdwatching; bicycling, swimming, and boating are planned as future additions.

As the first new California state park to open in nearly a decade, Dos Rios gives Modesto-area visitors rare, no-entrance-fee access to a major state park experience without the multi-hour drive typically required to reach the Sierra Nevada foothills or the coast.