Flinn Springs County Park — Attraction in California

Beautiful park in East County and clean bathrooms. Sadly I had a terrible first experience with the park ranger. In the 30 minutes we were there I was constantly followed by the ranger and had to de-escalate with her twice. For some reason she was unable to give me change for my $5 bill since the park fee is still only $3, so I was happy to give her the full bill. My mom goes all the time to walk with her service dog and invited me to come with her this time just for a quick stroll with my new LEASHED puppy. About 10 minutes into our walk the ranger drives in between some picnic tables and bumps hard into one of them. Apparently she was in a rush to approach us. With a harsh face and stern voice she commanded my mom to put her dog on a leash. We showed her that he had an e-leash but she insisted. The dog has his service vest on, so I don't know how she couldn't see that, but we didn't argue. My mom can't grip anything so I offered to hold the grip handle from his vest and walk to the car so we could just leave. As we're loading up the car to leave, the ranger appears again and yells at us that the dog is no longer welcome at this park because we disobeyed her orders to leash him, and making other accusations, then threatened to call her ranger, to which I calmly responded "please do." The ranger started escalating and raising her voice and I, again calmly, asked her to please have a conversation with me. I de-escalated the situation, (calmly and kindly) explaining to her that my mom, who comes to this park often and had never met this ranger, is handicapped and that this is her service animal. She gave me a forced smile afterward and changed her tone, but no real applogy. I asked if I could still speak to her ranger and she said he's actually in a meeting so he's not available... Figures. The $5 was somehow worth it because I believe it aids in keeping this park beautiful... Not sure I'll be back though. We were practically chased out and this made...

Hidden gem on the old highway 80 that I learned from my job. Wonderful park for people and dogs to walk through with all the nice shading provided by tons of trees, with lots of parking and seating. A spring runs the length of the park other than where you can hike. The park is a mix of grass and dirt areas, has plenty of playgrounds for little kids, has plenty of bathrooms, and lots of parking. The seating areas are so much that you could still get away from the sounds of other people and still be in shade. They also have a wedding gazebo for rent and a wedding tree (with a huge canopy to enjoy). Pay $3 to park/help sustain the park and relax...

This park is great: they've got lots of open spaces for games (e.g., Ultimate frisbee); playgrounds for the kids (my daughter loves coming here for a Saturday afternoon); and barbecue grills for get-togethers with family/friends. They do charge admission (think it's $2 or $3) unless you have a disabled plate or placard (I prefer to call it my "A-list parking pass"). This is a fun park, and I'd highly recommend it. FYI, the playground for the younger kids is located at the end of the road...enter the park and just follow the road. My daughter is four and loves it (think the recommended age range for that playground...