Turlock Lake - Stanislaus County, California

Visited on 2/19/2018 - Jeff and I took advantage of the unusually warm weather we had during the three day holiday weekend to take in the beauty of some lakes in the Mother Lode Gold Country of the Sierra Mountain foothills area.  We loaded up the truck camper for a long weekend of camping and on our third day on our way home we traveled west from Lake McClure to Turlock Lake Recreation Area located 25 miles east of Modesto, California.  Turlock Lake is at an elevation of 250 feet in the rolling hills of the Central Valley.  The lake has a surface area of 3,500 acres with 26 miles of shoreline.  Bounded on the north by the Tuolumne River and on the south by Turlock Lake, the recreation area provides an ideal setting for water-oriented outdoor activities. The recreation area features the lake with its 26 miles of shoreline and the foothill country leased from the Turlock Irrigation District in 1950. Picnicking, day-use, and boat launch ramps are offered at the lake. Overnight visitors are welcome at the 66 site campground located on the shady south bank of the Tuolumne River about 1 mile from the lake.  From several lookout point, visitors can view the surrounding savannas and some of the cattle ranches and orchards nearby. And from Lake Road which separates the campground from the day use area, an excellent perspective is shown of the campground, the river and sloughs, and miles of dredger tailing piles-the by product of a half century of gold mining.   Jeff and I had a great time getting the dogs out for a run on the beach with the chuck-it and ball.

Almond Orchards surround this area.  This time of year the trees are already in bloom because of the warm weather we are experiencing in the month of February.

Jeff throwing the ball for the dogs down the trail to the Lake.  So much fun....and of course they had to take a dip in the Lake once they got too warm from all the activity.

We crossed the coolest covered bridge located at Robert's Ferry.  We were worried about clearing the roof of our truck camper on this bridge, but as we approached we realized we were fine when we saw the clearance sign was 15'3 feet and our camper is 12'6.  Whew!!!!