Ahart Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 25 mi
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 1211 on recreation.gov
- Season
- June 1 – November 30Open June 1 through November 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ahart Campground is located on the tree covered banks of the North Fork of the American River near French Meadows Reservoir, about 40 miles from the town of Foresthill, high in the Sierra mountains. Visitors enjoy the area for the rugged mountain beauty, fishing, boating and trail opportunities. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Natural Features
The campground is near the north shore of French Meadows Reservoir along the banks of the Middle Fork of the American River while nestled in a Coniferous Forest. Summer days can be warm and pleasant with cool evenings.
What the agency tells you
There is no cell phone service in this area! - Bring your own drinking water. - Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed. For current fire conditions or weather closures contact the American River Ranger District (530) 367-2224 (voice), (530) 367-2226 (TDD). - Campground is 40 miles from Foresthill and not on Lake Tahoe. - This is bear country; food must be stored in provided food storage lockers. - First-come, first-served sites may be available. - Last minute gas, ice and supplies should be purchased at Foresthill. - Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally in Foresthill or by using down wood debris from the area that fit within the fire ring. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov. - Large single unit RVs are not suitable for the campground roads. Even though a site might have a 40 foot parking space, a 40 foot long RV can’t navigate through the campground. Also please remember that site parking length includes trailer and vehicle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River, Meadow
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Picnicking
- Scenic drives
- Water access
- Wilderness access
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 19 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 11 of the 12 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 sites
All 12 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 11 of the 12 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Gates GroupTahoe National Forest · 0.3 mi
Coyote GroupTahoe National Forest · 0.7 mi
LewisTahoe National Forest · 1.1 miMumford Bar CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 1.6 miPoppy CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 2.4 mi
French MeadowsTahoe National Forest · 2.4 miHigh clearance vehicles may take Foresthill Rd to the 43 Rd (Robinson Flat Rd) to Mosquito Ridge Rd, snow permitting. Access from Soda Springs and the 43 Rd is not recommended for trucks with trailers, motorhomes/RV's or passenger vehicles that are not high clearance vehicles with four wheel drive.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical November night 26°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Ahart Campground is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →