River Bend Park

The directions off Unilocal from where we live took us to a dead end so we typed the address in to google maps and arrived. Paid the $ 5 dollar parking fee and not knowing where we were going, just moved up here from Oakland and it was our first visit, I just walked up a small hill from the parking lot and there was the river. My girlfriend and I grabbed our towels and started the short walk. The bank is rocky and sandy but we found a more sandy spot to lay out the towels. Headed into the river and it was nice and refreshing. The area where we were was nice and clean, no garbage or debris at all. At one point while we were wading in the river some ducks came right up to us. Being a city boy I had a blast being out there. Now that we live up here and the entrance just over a mile from our home we will be spending more time there. I highly recommend the area for relaxing. I also have to do some research on the tubing and rafting. There were trucks there which appears to be an end point for rafting and they bring the rafts back up to the starting area. I need to find that starting area :)

Hun out here yesterday with my boyfriend and friend, and we had a pretty good time.
Entrance was only $ 5 (to bring in a vehicle) and the park ranger was very nice and helped us with directions to the American River. We had never been here before, so it was needed lol. The drive up to the river was fairly easy to find, just make sure to follow all the road signs as certain areas are cyclist and pedestrian heavy and the crossing areas give them priority first.
The three of us walked up and down the American river, which the shoreline on one side is almost all rockbed, and the other side of the river are actually private entrances to the residents that live there.
Plenty of roaming wildlife along the River as well.
We mostly stayed down by the River, so I don’t have much to say about the rest of the park, but it was kept very clean, plenty of picnic and bench areas, the grass was green and well kept.
Would like to spend more time here again in the future.

River Bend Park was formerly known as Goethe Park but Charles Goethe loved Nazis so the city changed the name. Makes sense because this park doesn’t seem like a place where Nazis like to hang out. I mean, I don’t want to generalize here but I’ve been to River Bend many times and I’ve never seen a Nazi. Besides, the park is grassy and hilly and has lots of picnic tables. It’s better for soaking in the sun, BBQing or playing sports than practicing a variety of fascism that incorporates biological racism and antisemitism. And whenever I’m there I see a great diversity of people – every race, every age group – not the product of an ideology that requires the domination of society by people deemed racially superior.
So, yeah, it’s a nice place.
What’s also really cool about River Bend is that it is actually located on a bend in the river. So it’s really easy to find. At the bend. In the river.

Yay for White Water Rafting & River Bend Park to End the Day of Fun!
SITREP
Last Saturday, our buddy Minh planned a day of white water rafting. This was the meet-​up location and the planned post-​rafting BBQ site. It was a $ 5 charge to get into the park which was a small price to pay for being here.
SETUP
Everyone was driven further up the American River around Nimbus Dam to be released on the rafts and inner-​tubes. I stayed with Minh at River Bend Park to prepare for the BBQ.
We got a grill site location with picnic tables and began the set-​up on the tables with the sides.
POST-​RAFT BBQ
Got some great pics of the raft-​arrivals from the river and they had a good time. After raft-​deflation, we packed up the rafting gear and focused on the BBQ. With music, food and drinks, we had a great time.
THE LOWDOWN
River Bend Park is an awesome location to enjoy the outdoors, either as a picnic by itself, or as the close to a wonderful time of rafting.

car broken into and robbed in the overflow parking area. they wouldnt even refund my $ 5!

I honestly have nothing negative to say about this park. Adequate parking, beautiful trees, the bike trail, a wormhole (walking bridge) into an infinitely nicer area of sacramento. Riverbend park also provides great people watching in the summer during rafting season.

This is my dog’s favorite park in Sacramento. We live in Arden-​Arcade & actually access River Bend through the Bike Trail bridge from William B Pond Park.
There are quite a few trails to take her on walks, that are not busy like the bike trails. We usually do a loop around the park. Once crossing the bridge, we walk down to the river and follow it up stream as far as we can & then connect to one of the trails. We like to take it to Hagan Park and then head back along one of the many horse trails.
This is a widely spread out park that offers a lot of «urban» hikes.

The sun decided it was going to show its little face for the long Memorial Day weekend and I was itching to barbecue something.
Got a little group together and headed over to this park (formerly known as Goethe.)
Though it was $ 8 to get in and they were actively patrolling for anyone who might violate the no beer and liquor policy, it was a good spot to grill with a nice little path down to the river.
When we arrived, we were greeted by close to a hundred nearly naked folks (in bathing suits) as they finished up their rafting trip and were waiting for the bus back up the hill.
If you do get in the river anytime soon, just a head’s up: the water seems to be moving unusually fast.

$ 5 for parking and park entry. Not bad because your permit is valid all day. Of course, I like free better, though ;P
There’s a rafting place that provides raft and kayak rentals. We always bring our own raft and we use their pump to inflate it. It costs $ 5 for each raft you want to inflate. There’s also a bus that can take you to the «start» so that you end up back there, where you parked your car. However, we always bring multiple cars so that we don’t have to pay that $ 4 per person.
Our rafting trip consisted of about 12 people, 3 cars = $ 15 parking, 2 rafts = $ 10 to inflate, beer/​alcohol and chaser = $ 30, and hot dogs = $ 20. That makes it about $ 75 for a rafting trip for 12 heads. That’s not bad! However, this is because we had our own rafts, own life jackets, and drove our own cars.
And of course, my stupid butt decided to jump in the water with my camera still tucked in my life jacket –_​– that’s $ 180 down the drain. Siiiiigh…