Lake Skinner Recreation Area

I have no idea how this campground has any positive reviews as far as having a relaxing nice quiet weekend goes. This was our third and final stay at this party zone. That being said. The Ranger at the entrance was nice and informative and for that I’m giving this review one star. Our site was clean and not level at all. It however was no problem for us to get our rv level. The Lake is nice, the camp ground is beautiful. It’s a shame it’s like a rave at that park and you can’t enjoy a relaxing weekend. It’s a loud drunken party all day and most of the night in camp B. Loud music all hours of the day and night. Barking dogs. This was our Third try at this camp ground. It’s been worse every time. If you camp to enjoy nature and get away from the hustle and bustle like we do. This is not the campground for you. If you do choose to try it out there is no cellular service for Verizon anywhere in the park. Do your research. Maybe even go visit this place before committing to camp there. We paid for 3 nights. Stayed 1 night. Ranger didn’t care about the party zone that was going on.

This is a decent public campground with full hookups available. There's nothing special about it and we didn't run into any of the problems some of the other reviewers did. We were not here on the weekend so possibly things are different. The park is nice however much of it is closed off to the public due to fire hazards or habitat restoration. So there are limited hiking opportunities. It's very convenient to many vineyard tasting rooms and if that's your thing, the location is ideal.

The sites, at least in loop C are a bit odd. Sites share a common utility area. What this means is that you will share a common area with your neighbor on the curb side of your rig, unless you choose an end site. I guess it's nice if you are camping with friends, but we've all seen the campers from hell and they also might show up. So my advice is to try and pick and end of a row or one of the handful of back-in sites.

We stayed here while I finished out work after our house sold. The site was pretty level, so it made set up easy. We have two dogs, and it was an additional $2 per night per dog on top of the nightly fee. The water is infested with quagga mussels, so I wouldn’t recommend putting your own boat or kayak in. Fishing required a California state fishing license and the purchase of their license as well. There’s no swimming allowed. The cell service was horrible, even with a weboost. We have T-Mobile phones and Verizon jet pack, and service was extremely slow. Weekends are jam packed with loud, obnoxious people. Quiet hours are supposed to be 10pm to 6am, but people were outside having campfires, drinking, and partying at 3am. Our site was right next to a camp host and they never once asked the people partying at all hours of the night to quiet down. Gate closes a little after 6pm and requires a code to get in and out, which was a bite annoying but not the end of the world.

We are a full-time family and typically boondock, so take this review of a real state park RV campground with a grain of salt. We're used to having our own space.

First, the grounds themselves are OK. Decently clean, though certainly not spotless. There are tons of birds around so just about everything is covered in bird crap (picnic tables, firepit area, anything by the trees). There is a nice playground here and plenty of walking paths, which my kiddos loved. Our site had water and electricity but no sewer, so we used the dump station at the end of the week and that worked fine.

Connectivity here is poor. It was hard to get any signal, either with AT&T or Verizon. There is campground wifi but it's expensive, and seemed....risky. I don't recall the exact price but it didn't seem worth it. Maybe in hindsight it would have made our stay much better, but we aren't used to paying for internet.

Access is certainly fine, all paved roads, but it's about 10 minute drive in the state park before you get to the campground, and just to get to the state park it's about 20 minutes out of Temecula (through lovely wine country). Good if you want to get away, not super great for full-timers. The camp store has propane and quite a few other supplies like ice and firewood, but it's all pretty expensive, as you'd expect. We arrived on a Sunday and waited in line about 20 minutes before we could check in, just because of how busy it was at the gate.

Important note: Lake Skinner is a reservoir and NOT a lake, so don't expect to be able to do any swimming or watersports here. I think there is a little bit of fishing perhaps. Not many true hikes in the park either, just a handful of walking paths.

The spots are pretty cramped. We had someone bump our nosecone on their way in, luckily no damage. It was tough for us pulling out, and ours was a pull-through site. People park their trucks/cars in the road making it all pretty claustrophobic.

It’s been about 13 years since we were here last. The campsites are fairly clean, level and wide. Our 33.5’ rig fit fine. There a picnic table and fire pit for each site. Full hookups and spotty wifi. Cell service (Verizon) was not reliable. My husband managed to get a good signal on his phone but I didn’t. Our TV was able to connect to the free campground wifi and we were able to stream Netflix. You can easily get in several miles of walking if you explore the trails. It was not too noisy most of the day and is very quiet at night, even though the weekend we went, every site was being used. Lots of kids on bikes so be careful driving in and out.

Decent campground. Full hookups available. Tons of spots and wasn't crowded either of the two times I stayed here. All spots seem to be level. Many pull thru spots available. All in fairly close proximity to the lake. Some trees but shade is at a premium.

Few tips...
Don't reserve online. They charge an extra $8 for that benefit.

If you want to save a few bucks, there are a few spots with electric only - no water or sewer. All I wanted was electric to run the AC so I saved a few bucks that way.

It gets really hot here in the summer. Was over 100 today in late August.

T-Mobile reception is really good here (25+ mbps) but Verizon is not. Virtually unusable.

It's been a while since we were here. Still a great park. Not too expensive, great location, full hookups, and an awesome park to explore. Walking/hiking trails for days, kayaking, fishing in Lake Skinner, etc. Tons to do for anyone. We come here, of course, because it's RIGHT in the middle of all the Temecula Valley wineries. One of our favorites is less than a mile outside the park entrance. Lake Skinner is the perfect place to camp, explore, then spend the evening around the fire with a couple bottles of amazing wine and something fresh and local from the Temecula Farmers market (Downtown Saturday morning). Great access to San Diego and the surrounding area as well. Campground A and B are pretty tight, but have the best views (only views really) of the lake. Campground C seems to have a little more space, but it's further away from the lake. We were in B with our 40 foot class A and toad. We had a spectacular view every morning, but we used every inch of that space. Our water heater broke, so we had to use the showers at the park. They are by far the worst camp showers I've ever used. They don't stay on constantly (3 seconds maybe in most cases), water was cold forever, there is no place to hang/set personal stuff, no heat, etc. They got the job done, but the were awful.

Explore the park and nearby trails, check out the wineries (many are dog friendly), take the walking tour of Old Town Temecula, go to the farmers market on Saturday mornings. So much to do. You could easily spend a week or more and not get bored.

Did you know southern California has wine country? There are about 50 vineyard and wineries in Temecula, Riverside county. (I am not a member of Harvest Hosts) While in the area I stayed at Lake Skinner (attached picture) and saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets. $200/week with full hookups. Weather: Winter tems: highs in the mid 60s, lows in the mid 30s. Good cell service. The camp is clean and well maintained, dirt pads, worn asphalt roadway, fairly level pads, park is a little old and remote, about 15 minutes to wine country and 25 to shopping and suburbia. There is little shade in the camping area but plenty of trees in the day-use park and picnic area. The lake accommodates boating and fishing but not swimming (it's a fresh water reservoir). There is a Camp Store for convenience items.

https://www.rivcoparks.org/lake-skinner-recreation-area/