Coon Street Beach & Boat Launch

I love this spot. They do take the California annual state parks pass too btw. I came here to launch my SUP with my dog since the boat ramp is closed to boaters since the lake is so low.
I had to walk past the boat ramp quite a ways to get to the water. There are also very low spots until you paddle past the rocks on the left. Go around it and it’ll get deeper.
It’s 10 $ for parking during the day and $ 5 at night after a certain time. I came on a Friday at 11am and left at 2pm and it was packed already when I left. Seems like a popular place. I’m sure on a weekend it would be packed by 11am. So get there early.
Also it is dog friendly to the left of the boat ramp and to the right dogs are not allowed. But from what I saw dogs were on the beach and it didn’t seem like a problem.
They were out of doggie poop bags though. I did have to walk back to my truck to get mine since I didn’t carry any on the sup.

This is the designated dog friendly beach, but let’s be honest, when «no one» is looking, the dogs are all loose on the other side of the boat launch.
Because of the low water, the boat launch is inaccessible. What’s happened is that strangers have been taking advantage of the many many rocks here to create cairns, also known as rock piles. I come here often at sunset, and it’s amazing to see how one week there will be literally a hundred rock piles, and the following week only a handful remain, and then the next week another mysterious 25 more pop up.
Great place for sunset shots when the water is calm and there is a hint of clouds.

This beach is not great, it is OK. For dogs it is OK, for their masters, less than OK. The reason is because it is very rocky, not pebbles, but good sized rocks and boulders that must be navigated in the water. It is very shallow because of the rocks, so if you are wanting to swim with your dog, you must wear water shoes (even then, it is slow going). Dogs have a problem because of the rocks also, which are slippery. One can go out 50 yds. and still be in shallow water. On shore, space is limited to sunbathing areas, only a few decent spots exist. The Coon Street dog beach is a small, confined, just on the other side of the boat dock. It is adjacent to the King’s State Park Recreation area, a big sandy beach. Although signs state no dogs, it seems many ignore it. So, my advice is to use either beach with your dog.

So I saw all the signs that said dogs were only allowed on the rocky side, but when I saw all the dogs on the actual beach side, we said screw it, we’ll just claim we missed the signs… maybe there was no enforcement because it was winter, but my dog had a blast and he was one of at least half a dozen dogs running around off leash.

Placer County has started enforcing a strict no dogs policy on the beach west of here and animal control is busy writing citations to show they are on the job. They say it is for sanitary reasons as the lake is a water supply but the small rocky spot on the lake is still signed as a dog area. Government intelligence at work!

The Coon Street Beach is (facing the lake) to the left of the boat launch ramp. While dogs are welcome here, they may choose to avoid it. The beach is not sandy or rocky — it has boulders all along the water. There are a few picnic tables surrounded by foxtails and lots of dust and weeds. While any beach that allows dogs is a good thing in my book, I’m not certain this qualifies as an actual beach.