McConnell State Recreation Area - Ballico, California

proFoundPeace C.

This is our favorite parking for walking the dogs and swimming at the river in summer time! They have beautiful trees and wildlife! There are campgrounds and day use. Restrooms year round and fishing access! Highly recommend a visit, whether you are local or not it's a place you'll want to come back to!

Cesar A.

Really nice place with a nice river to swim, dog friendly.
Plenty of room to set up tents.
Nice staff 👍

Shane J.

Nice place for a nature escape and some chill morning birding, campgrounds also seemed pretty nice with easy access to the river

Tammy F.

Lovely little spot fairly close to Sacramento that's also not in the mountains / foothills. River access and grass in the campsites for a softer sleep. The beginning of November gave us big trees starting to lose their leaves, quiet, not busy. Bathrooms were clean, but lots of little bottle caps and various litter esp around the river access. There's a small feral cat colony here too (camped with kids who loved to see!) But still a little sad. The signage needs to be cleaned it was impossible to read, see other reviews for photos. Night time you can hear the trains not too far away but not terrible. Campsites are spacious and have animal storage boxes for your food/kitchen supplies. Parking is easy, there's a small amphitheater and it's close to the 99 and some stores a few miles away

Brett S.

This is a nice little state Park. The campground looks nice and the picnic area is great, if a little dirty and shabby. The nature opportunities and chance to fish look good. But there is also the sadness of neglect, California State Parks SCREAM "maintenance backlog". Some of the plexiglass on interpretive displays are so cloudy and worn out that you can't even read what they say about the natural history of the area. The restrooms were fairly clean for a state park, this surprised me in a pleasant way! But we shouldn't be celebrating modestly clean restrooms. We should expect clean restrooms. The park worker at the booth was professional, nice, and helpful. I'd give five stars, except for all the obvious signs that California taxpayers have given up on having excellent, well maintained State Parks we could be proud of. Overall, we seem satisfied with a kind of half serious neglect. But maybe that is the right thing to do since we are actively turning the planet into Venus, and will have no children or grandchildren to enjoy this special place anyway.

Nancy B.

This is a such a fun spot for day use or camping. It does get loud with campers playing music and kids running around. I can say that at 10 pm, everything and everyone quiets down.
We walked down to the river, crossed it and found a secluded shaded spot for picnic and swimming. People are super friendly and it does get crowded. We enjoyed our stay and will be back again.

J A.

Nice campground along the Merced River. Currently 21 sites (20 sites available...site #21 held in reserve). Closed to swimming at the moment due to high water levels - assume this will change late summer, but call first if it's a deal breaker. River is moving swiftly, so be careful if you decide to swim anywhere along this river right now.

Most sites have shade. Lots of mature trees. Bathrooms are so-so, showers were gross. Noise levels were insane. Lots of families blasting Norteño music at all hours...was there Friday-Sun, so maybe try weekdays, or bring earplugs. On Friday one group was blasting music until about midnight. No response from the passive employees at this location.

Apologies if you like this sort of camping vibe...I can handle (and do expect) some campground noise, and have kids - so not bothered there. Don't mind generators if they're not too loud. Most newer gen models are pretty quiet these days. However, the younger crowd pumping tunes at this campground put things on a whole different level than anything I've seen elsewhere, and I've been camping a ton for over 20 years. Too bad as it's a relatively nice campground otherwise.

Jessica L.

It was my very first time at this river, I did not know what to expect specially that it was a mommy and girls day out. Thank god itvwas an awesome day. Waters are not runny fast its steady, warm waters, its also sandy and rocky, not leaving behind theres fishies too. there are tables and bbq grills, not a long walk from parking lot.

Water temp is so perfect my 4 month old baby was in with me