Love Camping!
We went to Portola State Park last month. The route has a breathtaking viewpoints. You can see the California's Wilderness in this campground. I'm not talking about wild animals. There are raccoons, of course, but not bears or other beasts. The park is so dense, that I was not able to see the sunrise.
We read the yelp reviews about the park and was very anxious about the mosquito bites. Either they were over-rated or we were extremely fortunate for not having been preyed upon. There were some insects, but I don't agree to all those ramblings, we are invading their nest and to whine about it is, I would say, bad!
One great specialty about this park is, it is very close to the city. We can reach the park in say an hour. We had wonderful time there. We went with another family. We built the tents, cooked our meals midst the bush, listened to a little bit of music. We relaxed. That's the point of camping or any recreational activity.
We would have loved to do a bit of hiking. Time didn't permit though.
To sum up, it was an awesome camping experience with good company.