So on June 11/12 we went camping to Folsom Lake SRA. We were a big group of 34 adults and 11 kids.
We reached at about 11am and started with a bad experience at the gate itself. The guard would not let us checkin even though we had 7 sites reserved. He said checkin time was 2pm and would not budge even though sites were empty. Grrr…… We did not experience this policy in any other state park. We had to wait in hot sun in a queue at 1 pm and then he started processing applications only a few mins before 2pm. And then too he was taking 10-15 mins per person. Grrrr again…. These guys at the gate were not at all considerate and preferred doing everything in a bureaucratic way. Everyone in the line was annoyed by their attitude. Anyway finally we got our campsites a full 4 hours after we had arrived. (There will be no Folsom Lake Camping for us again).
The park is open for dayuse also. Hence the lake side was so crowded. Anyway we set up tents and played in water for some time. Thank goodness for long days. Overall the state park is nice. With good big campsites and nice beach areas. Plus they have all kinds of boating options. (paddle, canoe, jetski). We had a nice campfire gettogether later in the night.
The next day we headed to the lake side for some more fun. Some folks went for jetskiing. while others relaxed under the shade and had watermelon+sandwiches. We headed for home at around 4 on sunday.
Due to the attitude of the people in charge of Folsom Lake SRA, i regretfully cannot recommend this park to anyone for Camping. The lakeside is also heavily used by the dayuse folks. So its very crowded. Upon writing to the state park dept, they promised to have some improvements next year. lets see. Till then Folsom Lake is a NO NO for Camping. But overall due to the spirit of kutchvalley folks we had fun.