Best Cabin Camping near Ripon, CA

I love this place because it is about 45 minutes from the house.  There's plenty to do with lots of great sites.  The first time we went, they didn't have any annual passes because they lady was out that day. But the other day, we were able to finally get a season pass.  You can fish, hike, or swim here. The campsites are spacious and you don't feel over crowded if there is a family next to you. It's pet friendly. The store was recently redone and they offer a wide variety of items, from keep sakes to any necessity you may have forgotten ( lighter, logs, clothes shoes, etc... )  There also boat rental that are a fair price, plus you get them for an hour or so. ( You will have to check the prices and availability. ) There's a dog park for the dogs to roam free off the leash, which also has access to water/ beach area for the dogs only.

This is a wonderful spot to stay for a few days in the off season. We stayed in February. Summers would be very hot and I imagine the area would be packed with day use folks. 12 miles from I-5 out in the country. Very quiet.  21 water and electric sites with a dump station on the way out. Some pull through sites. About 50 tent only sites, some just feet from the lake. RV sites are farther from the lake on mostly level gravel pads with picnic table, fire rings, and a trash can at each site. The grounds are very attractive and very well maintained and all of the staff we encountered were friendly and accommodating. There is one marked hiking trail that follows the lake shore for the first mile then through a field with cattle.

I wanted somewhere not too far to go and stay when my 5-6 year-old had 5 days off from school. This was perfect in so many ways.

Positives

- Amenities! I love how everything was themed, from the street names to the signs. Two nice playgrounds, ball courts, pool and hot tub. Watching your kids play red light/green light on the jumping pillow put a smile on every parent's face.

- Seasonal programming (weekends only). For October, we did an outdoor movie, magic pumpkins, costume contest, trick or treating, hay ride, and haunted house. My daughter loved everything except the haunted house, which she said was "too scary!"

- Clean, comfortable facilities. Lots of ways to stay. We car camped and found the hook ups really easy to use. Water, drain, 3 types of electricity, picnic table and firepit at every site. We used their bathrooms and showers and was impressed by how clean they were. Most of the time we had them completely to ourselves and they were even climate controlled.

- Restaurant. I cooked breakfast and lunch most days at the campsite, but for dinner we splashed out at the kid-friendly Waterfront Grille. Friendly staff, good food (lobster and prime rib, yum!), amazing views of the sunset.

Negatives

- Water park was closed. Call ahead to see if it is open when you want to go. I heard that it is never open because of some issue with permits or drought. If so, the promotional video is misleading and I almost deducted a star for this.

- Expensive. For camping, it is expensive, but think of it more as a theme park/resort, than true camping. We saved on the cabin and RV, and spent on the optional activities and the fancy meals.

Bottom line, I would totally go back and stay as long as I could. I hear it is super crowded in the summer, but it would be worth it if the water park is open.

We spent one night here in a hook-up site. The rv camp sites are well spaced. We had power, water and good Verizon coverage. There is no Wifi.

The lake side area seems like a great place for families. The grounds are nice, picnic sites have plenty of space. The swimming area, sport facilities and general store seemed to provide great fun for the hordes of folks there.

One caveat was that the shower/toilet facilities were SHOCKINGLY atrocious!!! Considering how neat everything else was it was astonishing to see the condition of those facilities. Granted it was a Sunday afternoon when we got there but still.. unbelievable.