Palomar Mountain State Park

What travelers say:

I had only one day to visit the park, didn't realize that the observatory had limited hours and the gates were locked at 4:30pm when I arrived. The state park has camping, some hikes and a large parking area with a view point that looked west. After driving around to see the state park facilities, I watched with about a half dozen others the sunset on Presidents' day 2020. What I saw was a bright light glowing through very polluted air. I could kind of make out the ocean. Perhaps it's Northern California snobbishness ;), but this has always been my beef with Socal. The air quality is horrible. So while I'm sure this may have a nice view after a rain storm, I'm not sure it is worth the drive otherwise.