Nice place to walk, has many trails. Good for boating and fishing. Nice bathroom. Multiple private eating sections with BBQ pits. first come first serve. Also large gathering area in the front of the park. And 2 huge play places for kids. Lots of places to park.Multiple handicap parking as well as 2 extra shaded handicap parking spots near the lake. Multiple small trash cans throughout the park, as well as 2 large Atlas containers if necessary for trash on your way out of the park. read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - Geese at Mather Lake - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

We buy this annual pass every year... the little loves playing here... the birds are so cool to see... the park equipment is a little broken down... it would be nice to see a new refresh for the kids... there are great party spaces!! Because there is a fee there aren't as many people read more

First time here, nice experience. Relatively quiet (blowers from the golf course next door the only minus on that count) and wholly uncrowded on this December Thursday afternoon. There's a trail on both sides of the lake, benches, picnic areas, large play structure that doesn't dominate the landscape and lots of nature. Parking is $6 (automated kiosk for that) and while there are restrooms, you will share them with the handful of homeless that are staying there. Who I saw on this day were mostly respectful and relatively clean, but just be aware that there's a chance you'll come across this. Non-motorized boats are allowed--none out on this day--and we'll give this place a try with kayaks to explore a bit all around the lake. Overall, this is a nice spot close to us here in Rancho. read more

See all

Hi-ya! We went to this park to fish...not knowing there was a play structure, barbecue girls, tables, restrooms--pretty much everything to spend ALL day there in convenience. The restrooms were in reasonable conditions, as they are public...no paper towels to dry your hands, but it's a public park resources are limited. The barbecue and seating area is really nice and all shaded. The lake is really a nice site and here is a dock to walk along and take it all in. I ended up catching a small fish unknowingly haha, about 5"---worry not catch and release. I'm not into keeping and killing fish haha. Anyway the park is very well maintained and clean. read more

Pay for parking! Signs are posted, however attendant is quick and too happy to ticket all cars. Free location to watch Capitol Airshow, you can see most of the show from the parking lot and adjacent field. Play structure is big and fun. Bathrooms are located onsite read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

See all

Sacramento County manages this park. They collect a fee and, to their credit there are multiple trash cans Surrounding the lake. Sadly the number of fisherman that visit this lake has resulted in hundreds of thousands of feet of Fishing line all along the shoreline. Unfortunately anywhere you have fisherman you have fishing line and most of them don't clean up after themselves. I spent a few hours collecting trash and was so disturbed by the amount of trash I found everywhere, along the shore, in the water, on the side of a garbage can, etc. then I watch the ducks and geese and other birds Forage in the water looking for food. they live here, we don't! the county really needs to look into cleaning this place up! read more

It's very disappointing that the city of Rancho Cordova has this really great park , but seems intent on keeping people from actually enjoying the park due to their unfriendly parking policy. I came here on a early Friday morning to explore the park with my dog and ended up leaving after a few minutes due to the flat rate parking fee of 5$. I really only intended to stay for 20 minutes max. I saw the few signs for the parking fee , so I walked up to the ticketing machine to find that they don't have options for shorter visits . So weather you stay for 10 minutes or 10 hours , it 5$ flat. The parking lot is large and nearly empty ...there was only 3 other cars in the lot. I witnessed a few city workers nearby working and didn't want to risk not paying and getting a parking ticket for 20 minutes so I just ended up leaving . What a bummer. Why in the world can't they have prorated fees like city street parking . I don't mind paying a parking fee that is fair for the time spent at the park, but 5$ for a few minutes walking my dog around the grass is ridiculous. From what I observed from the parking lot, they have a nice covered space with tons of picnic tables for bbqs and party's, a large children's playground, a large pond or small lake , and lots of construction going on as well. It really looks like a great park. Too bad I didn't get to really explore the grounds. read more

What a cool park! We were lookong for a trail, and they sent us here. Trail? Yes, but not a hiking trail per se, but it ended up being a really cool place. The park has picnic tables that are covered and lots of them! There's a beautiful lake that circles around and they have picnic tabls along the way too! The lake is perfect for fishing but you do need a license. The water is so calm that its perfect for the kiddos! The allow canoes, kayaks, and rafts...pretty cool! The lake is full of different birds and right now, the ducks and just had the geese had just had babies so that was a special treat! One side of the trail doesn't allow you to go ask the way around so you get to explore it from 2 sides! Pretty cool! Oh..it has it's own parking lot but you have to pay! read more

See all

The lake and the swans are just beautiful. The park is laid out very well. Benches over looking the lake

We love this place. We come here pretty often to let our little one run wild. There's restrooms here which is always a plus. There's two playgrounds here one for little ones and another for bigger kids. There are swings here too. Places to eat at and benches throughout. You can fish here too. We haven't had much luck here though, but others have. We once brought our dog here and let him go in the water and that was a big mistake on our part. He came out with a bunch of ticks on him. Please make note of that! We haven't had any other issues with ticks just being at the park and grass area, but it is something to take note of. read more

Pros: Beautiful, natural park with a nice lake and lots of wildlife to view. Great place to have a small, quait picnic or a huge summer BBQ. Playground for the kiddies. Bathrooms. A nature walk with plaques follows around on side of the lake. You can hang out a bit here after you play a round of golf or just hit balls (which is what I ended up doing). Peaceful and quiet (in winter at least). Cons: It's pretty much out in the middle of no where (this is probably a pro). You have to rent out the space if you want to hold an event there. Parking was $5 (come on, I only wanted to walk around and observe...I kept a close eye out on my car and was not ticketed, thank goodness). read more

See all

The only thing I don't like about this park is that I don't live close to it. My husband had an appointment at the VA so I took my daughter out to explore the parks around Mather. This place is amazing! Looks like a great place to have birthday parties. The picnic tables are located by the parking lot and are covered. There's a very large playground. Looks like one area for bigger kids and then another area for smaller kids. Didn't go into the bathrooms but from the outside they didn't smell, so that's a good sign. It looks like there's a trail all the way around the lake that would be fun to walk around one day. There's a levee at one side of the lake that allows run off to come through to the other side. It flows into a little river around a wetlands area. We visited in winter so there weren't too many ducks like some of the pictures. Instead we saw a big flock of geese. They watched us to see if we had food, but quickly realized we didn't and they made sure to keep their distance from us. You do have to pay $5 to park. Cash only. No cards, no coins. I'm not sure how often the ranger comes by but we were there for about an hour and we saw him once. He was writing a ticket for a vehicle that didn't pay as we were getting ready to leave. I see the $5 is put to good use by the upkeep of the park and the lake, but at the same time I wouldn't want to pay to visit the park each time if I were a local. I'll definitely come back to this park the next time my husband needs to go to the VA. read more

See all

This is a great place for a close fishing trip. I highly recommend coming here in the spring and summer month especially if you're teaching kids how to fish. And yes, they plant trout in the lake during fall to spring. Hundreds of Sunfish also provide consistent action during the warmer month and occasionally a lunker catfish can be caught by fishermen working early morning with liver and crawlers. Carp are also found in the lake but because of the angling pressure, these carp feed mostly towards early morning due to the ruckus caused by anglers. The lake produces some pretty big bass during prespawn and spawn in March but because it's heavily fish, the bass here are spooked pretty easily by anyone approaching the shoreline. The best way to target these "hawgs" is to invest in an inflatable and get yourself out there to the lake and fish the weedy drop offs. Toss senkos, jigs with craw trailers and you'll find a lot of success. I don't recommend deep diving crankbaits for this lake due to it's heavy weed growth but shallow crank baits will be quite rewarding during fall. Yes... a lot of people out there on the lake are bucket grabbers... You'll see the "bucket grabbers" from March till July before the bass feeding pattern change completely and they no longer feed near the shore. Great little lake in an urban environment though... read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - A Mather Lake Crayfish (Red because the species is a wetland kind) - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

Amanda totally ran home from the bday and beat me to it!!! I loved this park. I rented it for the PF's 40th Piratefest. Specifically, the Rotary Grove PICNIC SITE ROTARY GROVE - $125.00 - Site capacity 300 - Seats 200 - Electricity - Water- Covered Tables - Near Restrooms - Large BBQ (916) 875-6336 Best way to get there: Hwy 50 to Sunrise South, go to Douglas and hang a right, go to Eagle's Nest Road, hang a left, park. If you follow the county's instructions, it takes you through the closed Mather AFB, and that my friends, was a pain in the ass. You can snag it when it's not reserved, but for the reservation, you can have alcohol and not worry about being annoyed by county personnel., as well as the fact they hosed it down before I got there and they stocked the potties with towels, soaps, and TP. It costs attendees/park goers 4 bucks cash to park there, but it goes to park facilities maintenance. The playground I never got around to walking around in, but it's big, has slides and swings, and they've planted a few shade trees there. The wood picnic structure was the key for me. I needed to sort of transform it (with some serious streamer action from Amanda) into a pirate ship with sails and rigging (translation, streamers, plastic white tablecloths strategically billowing, plastic rats and chocolate coins on the table, plus a plethora of jolly rogers flapping.) The wooden pilings, the covered main picnic area, and the high ceiling lent itself perfectly to my purpose. There are also long buffet/food prep areas. And you can access the electricity at no less than 4 or 5 different outlets on the buffet and strategically around the site. It is usable/open until dark, which means potentially that you could hang twinkle lights and go mad; not sure about live music, but I'm thinking anything is possible with the right deposit. Anyway. I highly recommend this place; before I found it, I was looking into Discovery Park. For the same amount of money, you can have crowds, crowds and more crowds of ne'erdowells and annoying drunken frat jerks. At Mather, we just got a few families, a few fishermen, and a couple o'random children who popped over from the playground to check out the cupcakes. Other boons: lake for fishing (bass, bluegill and sunfish mostly, although two drunken early risers who were there when I was setting up tried to tell me there were tuna in the lake. Like I'm THAT gullible.) Canoes are welcome. Bike trail for bikers. read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - Main picnic area - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

See all

Visited here on Easter weekend. The cost of parking was $8!! Unbelievable. Cost aside, the park is decent. There's a playground and plenty of space for families to get together and bbq. The lake is a bit dirty. I saw a couple of people hanging out fishing but I'm not sure anyone caught anything. Not a lot of shade at the park. read more

First thing first.. $5 dollar parking fee. Keeping that in mind the money is well spent. The park is properly maintained, grass cut, little to no litter, tables clean, trees for shade, a playground area, and a covered area. This is everything before you hit the lake. Mather Lake is there only for fishing (no swimming) which is a good thing. Went in the summer, which means algae growth, but the lake is still fish-able. This lake contains black bass and trout. Fishing can be done from the shore, plenty of access points, and also the mini dock from the "boat launch" area. The boat launch area is just dirt path into the lake, although shady, it is doable. Boats, pontoons, float tubes, kayaks can all go in the water as long as its man powered or electric motors. I was out there fishing for 4 hours and got only two bites from bass one being 5inches and the other 13inches, both caught off the dock. Tip: Take a look inside the park before you pay the fee and make the judgement first. read more

I used to like coming to this place but the last time I went there the place was pretty filthy with a homeless person sleeping in the restroom. Hopefully the city can make it a more enjoyable place to go and enjoy with family. read more

It's been a few years since we used this park as an outdoor party area. My favorite thing about this place is the covered canopy... it's a great way to escape the sun, at least until just before dusk. The sun is merciless at the time, and there's no way to avoid it if you're facing the parking lot. Being right near the lake is nice and I've seen many use it for fishing purposes. I've never used it, as I've usually been too busy guzzling beer from a keg (with the appropriate permits, of course!). Something else to note: there aren't any stores nearby, so stock up on charcoal, lighter fluid, etc. prior to the event. Otherwise, you'll have the travel to Folsom Blvd. to hit the Wal-Mart or Safeway. Also notable: the BBQs are under the canopy, which is great when the chef doesn't want a nasty sunburn on the back of their neck. And the kid park is about 25 yards away, tons of grass, but very few trees. The price for the rental is decent and the rangers have always been kind. Just pack it up prior to dusk or they'll herd you out like cattle. read more

If you're a fisherman this place could be very frustrating without some kind of boat. Too much under growth causes plenty of snags read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - Lots of crawfish out here - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

1. Dog friendly park 2. Nice lake for fishing 3. Paved walking path 4. Two large play areas for the kids to play 5. Restrooms available (dirty) Overall a nice park and area to stretch your legs after a long drive read more

This park is amazing it's nice n big. Yes the collect 5 bucks but it's worth because the park is clean n well maintenance......their is no trash. The park is a great place for all ages. I like the fact that I can get on the slides with my son. I have been at ma y parks n this one is my top Park. If u want to get ur child tired this is the park to go to. read more

Great park to take the kids or stroll! There is a a little lake full of ducks! Seems to be a nice place to have a picnic or birthday party. There is even a small dock for fishing. Beautiful scenery tucked away in Rancho Cordova/Mather. Bathrooms are exceptionally clean for park bathrooms. No smells of urine, even on the men's side from what my sons tell me. Definitely a go to place on a beautiful afternoon. read more

Mather Field Lake Regional Park - The dock area with the ducks. - Parks Near Me - Mather, California

See all

This is a beautifully preserved area to fish, exercise or get in touch with your inner John Muir. It may be a little out of the way for most who are looking for a quick commune with nature, but its conveniently located for the residents of the various suburbs surrounding Mather airport. Between the lush greenery of downtown Sacramento and the majestic Sierra mountain range in the distance, it's easy to overlook the beauty of the foothills and outlying Sacramento Valley. Here is a park that preserves the area much as it was before much of it was leveled by developers and occupied by a$%holes like myself. It's great for a barbecue or picnic with the family. The only downside is that they charge $5 for parking even though the lot is usually half empty. But I can understand this considering the budget cuts our parks have faced since the economic crisis began. read more

The playground itself was great but there was TOO much poop on the sidewalks, in the grass and everywhere you stepped(from the geese). To pay $5 to have your kids step in crap is not worth it. read more

This place is ful of weeds and geese poop nothing but weeds in that little pond there wasn't any fish visible. Read online that there were blue gils and catfish in this pond. I didn't see any fish except the pond was full of geese and weeds. read more

This park is pretty nice, it has a pretty big playground area for the kids, lots of grass area, has a lake next to it to fish too...THE only bad thing was there were so much geese and ducks that they poop all over the place...soooooOOo much that it made me felt disgusted so beware of poop. read more

Park is pretty nice and is a good place to play Pokemon Go but $5 to park is pretty ridiculous for a "public" park. And park rangers do actually check to make sure that you have paid. read more

I have a couple questions for any regulars, or even anyone who's been here once or twice that would be willing to help me out? :) Does this park have enough scenic nature views for photography purposes that is worth the parking fee? And are dogs allowed?? Please and thank you! xoxo read more

*Rate is only for the fishing experience For the interested fishermen, I'm an experienced largemouth bass fisherman who decided to give this pond a try. I began fishing at 1 pm and left at 4 pm. I fished stick baits (different colors) and drop shot (finesse worms), these two baits ALWAYS catch me at least one fish. But of course, not one single bite. I left disappointed and with $5 less in my wallet. My recommendation is save your time and money and fish somewhere else. read more

I had never been to this park. Its a great place to have a birthday party, and is totally kid friendly with a playground.

All these years, never knew there was a wonderful park nearby. I love it here. Its small, with large lake, hiking/bike trails and the golf course nearby. Its really peaceful with lots of free range turkeys everywhere. read more

Spent the day with the kids here. Great park. Fished a few times and havnt caught anything but still fun to try with the kiddos. Cost $5 to park. would be better for disabled people if it was free like other parks. read more

Kids park is ok but not worth 5 bucks. And trust me you will get a $60 ticket if you dont pay. The grass is literally covered in goose crap .Fishing from shore is marshy and nasty. Plus TICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its decent fishing if you have a boat but its down the road from a shooting range so you hear the gun shots all day. It's kind of scenic from the lake but you cant really have a good beach front anywhere on the lake. Ticks, poop and litter. read more

My first time to this park with my daughter. We were driving by and saw this park. My daughter wanted to go check it out. We were there maybe 20 minutes and came back to a ticket on my windshield. Guess i didn't see the pay yourself parking sign. Not seeing this sign cost me $57.50. Needless to say I wont be back to this place. I feel like a total sucker. read more