Peninsula Campground, Folsom SRA

There are two campgrounds named ‘Peninsula Campground’ in Northern California.

Most locals probably know about the privately owned campground near Rollins Lake. They are somewhat infamous on Yelp.

This review is about the other, perhaps lesser known Peninsula Campground– the government-owned Peninsula Campground, which is part of Folsom Lake SRA (State Recreation Area).

It’s located adjacent to a prominent peninsula on Folsom Lake, which is actually closer to Pilot Hill than to Folsom.

Driving from Folsom, the directions to Peninsula are fairly straightforward. Take Salmon Falls Road all the way to where it ends at Rattlesnake Bar, and then take Rattlesnake Bar all the way to its end at the campground.

From a boat, it’s even faster– my friends said it only took them a few minutes to boat to me from Beals Point, but the drive takes nearly an hour.

There are two boat ramps at Peninsula: one in the day use area, and one in the campground area (for registered campers only). Both are listed on Google maps.

Registration at Peninsula has been the easiest of any campground I’ve stayed at so far. Trips that are at least two days out can be reserved online.

If there is space in the campground, then same-day camping is permissable.

I find it easiest to register with the camp hosts at the kiosk, but there are also self-service envelopes for those who arrive after hours.

Park rangers patrol the campground at all hours. They are not strict about noise, but they are super strict about smoking and drinking outside of the campsites.

Great hiking trails in or near the campground include Oaks Nature Trail, Darrington, and Salmon Falls.

The Oaks Nature Trail is only one mile long, and is located entirely within the campground. It’s mostly shaded, and follows the outer edge of the peninsula through oak woods.

Several longer, better hikes are just a short drive away, down Salmon Falls Road.

Darrington Trail can technically be accessed from the campground, just across from the kiosk.

However, this side of the trail is wildly overgrown with tall grass, and is chalk full of ticks and rattlesnakes.

Most of the time, it’s practically impossible to tell if/when you’re stepping on some kind of nest.

So, if you’re able to, and if you’re not dead set on hiking the entire 8 miles, I would suggest taking Darrington from the other entrance, which is located down Salmon Falls Road.

This side is much more nicely maintained, is more shaded, and has better views of the lake.

Camping fees at Peninsula include day use parking at any California state park. Just make sure your pass is visible in your window before you leave your car.

The Salmon Falls Road entrance for Darrington is also close to several other great hiking trails, including the South Fork American River trail, which is one of my favorites in the area.

I only had time to hike the first few miles of Darrington, but I loved it. I definitely want to come back to finish it when the weather is cooler.

The views are similar to the views from the South Fork or Brown’s Ravine trails, but not exactly the same. Each trail features unique flora.

For example, on Darrington, I saw some shrubs I’ve never seen anywhere else before. They were blooming with tiny red and yellow flowers.

On the other side of Darrington, I found some Sierra Checkerbloom.

I thought this sign was funny. It would not be fun to fly off this cliff on a mountain bike.

Each of the campsites at Peninsula are unique, and I had the opportunity to stay at several of them.

The first site I stayed on was 80, which I’d hand-picked after driving through the campground. I thought it looked like the most ideal spot, since it was the closest to the lake.

It was absolutely gorgeous, and, if you don’t mind noise, then I would highly recommend this spot.

On the other hand, if you are even a little bit sensitive to noise, I would pick a different spot.

What I didn’t realize was that this site is on the edge of the boat mooring area. People come here to park their boats and chill.

Some of them peed right in front of me, not realizing that I was only about a hundred years away.

On the night of Mother’s Day, a group of college aged kids camped on spot 79, which is so close to 80 that they may as well be the same spot.

They were clearly camping pros– they had all kinds of expensive equipment, including a Jackery with huge solar panels.

It was peace and quiet until 10pm, which, ironically, is when quiet time starts. At this time, they began blasting horror movies from a movie projector which they had set up several feet away from my tent.

Rather than asking the rangers to ask these kids to quiet down, I asked to be moved to a different site.

I had noticed that my first choice spot, spot 60, was unoccupied and unavailable on the website. Upon inquiry, I found that it was an overflow “buffer” spot reserved for campers with issues.

The rangers were more than happy to move me to site 60. They didn’t give me any grief about it at all.

But, site 60 turned out to be wildly overgrown with baby lupine and golden poppies. I felt terrible stepping on them, and it was hard not to.

Plus, the raccoon box was entirely broken, and there was a healthy little sapling growing in the fire pit.

So, the next night, I switched sites again, one site over, to spot 59. Apparently, I failed to take pictures from this site, but the views are almost exactly the same as from spot 60.

The next time I came back to Peninsula, I ended up on spot 20, because it was the only one available!

I was lucky to get a spot at all, since it was Memorial Day Weekend.

Site 20 turned out to be my favorite one so far. It’s set off kind of by itself. I was just above the Oaks Nature Trail, on a cliff by a ravine.

The ravine was full of salmon, which made the area a hotspot for quiet early morning fishermen.

The salmon themselves were unbelievably noisy.

My first night at Peninsula, I almost thought someone was dumping bodies in the water 😂

All throughout the night, at least once per every few minutes, I could hear a salmon jump.

They like to jump up to six feet in the air, and then flop down on their full side, which creates a loud splash.

(Apparently, scientists think they do this to dislodge body lice.)

I had read in another review that the upper loop of the campground doesn’t have good views of the lake, but that’s just not true. I loved my view from Site 20.

Due to being directly underneath a huge blue oak tree, this site was mostly shaded for most of the day. It was right above a yellow wildflower bloom, which the herons seemed to love.

To compensate for being slightly further away from the lake, most of the upper spots have beautiful stone grills. Some of them are falling apart, but they still work.

I didn’t use my stone fireplace, but I did use my camp stove to up my outdoor cooking game, from boiling water, to boiling things in water.

I had picked up some of my favorite ravioli from Trader Joe’s, which I had for both dinner and the next day’s breakfast.

After a few nights, someone else reserved spot 20, so I moved to spot 47. But, whoever reserved spot 20 never even showed up.

Spot 47 was my least favorite. It was super sunny, and everyone driving in or out had to drive by that spot.

To make matters worse, this site seemed to be a deer’s home. He marched loudly through my site in the middle of the night, and stole some trash that I had forgotten to put away.

Once the temperature started rising above 80 degrees, I had to go. It gets hot in a tent really fast.

I packed up early in the morning, and headed back to the mountains.