Berger
1Heads up1 fire 39 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 9All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 13 – October 13Open June 13 through October 13
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Berger Campground is located in the Packer Lake area near Packer Creek and the Sierra Buttes, north of the Yuba River. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, equestrian use, hunting, fishing, canoeing and OHV use. This campground is operated and maintained by Forest Service staff. Keep reading
Recreation
A large network of trails is available in the Packer Lake area, including the Pacific Crest Trail, which is just a short trip from the campground. Many lakes in the area, including Packer Lake and Lower Sardine Lake, offer stocked rainbow and brook trout fishing, in addition to canoeing. During the late spring months, visitors looking for a more extreme adventure might want to try whitewater rafting on the North Yuba River.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family tent sites on two loops. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not provided.
Natural Features
The campground is located at an elevation of 5,900 feet, near the banks of Packer Creek and just a short distance from Packer Lake. The campground is located within stands of lodgepole pine, cedar and fir trees. Packer Lake is a remote six-acre body of water tucked at the foot of the Sierra Buttes in Tahoe National Forest. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-4531.
Nearby Attractions
The Lakes Basin offers boating, fishing and hiking. Over 30 miles of maintained trails branch out across the area. Many of the trails are also open to biking and horseback riding. On the water, visitors enjoy boating, canoeing and fishing. Anglers will find rainbow and brook trout in many of the lakes throughout the basin. A boat ramp is located at Gold Lake.
Charges & Cancellations
No Show Policy A no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date (or for day-use facilities, by check-in time the day of arrival). * No-show customers are only recorded at staffed facilities. At most remote facilities, all customers are noted as automatically checked-in on the date of arrival. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold group day-use facilities until check-in time on the arrival date. There is no change fee if a customer extends or shortens a reservation if the change includes dates from the original reservation. If they choose to depart early, they may forfeit some or all of the recreation fees. There is no change fee if the customer changes campsites that are the same price and on the same reservation dates in the same campground. If the campsite the customer is changing to has a price difference, the customer will be responsible for any additional fees or be provided with a refund, based on the price difference. Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility. We recommend customers contact the facility if they are en route to their reservation but cannot make it by the check-in date. In these cases, no refund will be issued, but the facility can ensure that a "no-show" fee is not assessed.
What the agency tells you
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 Yuba River Ranger District (530) 288-3231(voice) or, (530) 288-3656 (TDD).
No hookups at this campground
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
One vehicle (or two motorcycles) included with reservation. Additional vehicle fee cost is $5/each per night for all untowed vehicles. Please pay extra vehicle fee at the self-serve fee tube located near campground entrance.
No Show Policy A no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date (or for day-use facilities, by check-in time the day of arrival). * No-show customers are only recorded at staffed facilities. At most remote facilities, all customers are noted as automatically checked-in on the date of arrival. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold group day-use facilities until check-in time on the arrival date. There is no change fee if a customer extends or shortens a reservation if the change includes dates from the original reservation. If they choose to depart early, they may forfeit some or all of the recreation fees. There is no change fee if the customer changes campsites that are the same price and on the same reservation dates in the same campground. If the campsite the customer is changing to has a price difference, the customer will be responsible for any additional fees or be provided with a refund, based on the price difference. Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility. We recommend customers contact the facility if they are en route to their reservation but cannot make it by the check-in date. In these cases, no refund will be issued, but the facility can ensure that a "no-show" fee is not assessed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9 · 5 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not provided.…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…ring. Vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not provided. Natural Features The campground is located at an…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Climbing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Kayaking
- Mountain biking
- Mountain Climbing
- Mushroom Picking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Off Highway Vehicle Trails
- Night sky · 497th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Additional vehicle fee cost is $5/each per night for all untowed vehicles.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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.
“Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility.” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
9 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 8 mapped sitesAll 9 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 8 of the 9 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 9 of the 9 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA BERGER | 01 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | $18 | |||
| AREA BERGER | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 95 ft | 192 ft | 2,148 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 03 | tent only nonelectric | 32 ft | 112 ft | 296 ft | 2,156 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 04 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 95 ft | 156 ft | 2,057 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 77 ft | 67 ft | 1,866 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 06 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 65 ft | 132 ft | 1,936 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 07 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 65 ft | 173 ft | 1,920 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 08 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 49 ft | 236 ft | 2,024 ft | $18 |
| AREA BERGER | 09 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 49 ft | 283 ft | 2,062 ft | $18 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
PacksaddleTahoe National Forest · 0.3 mi
DiabloTahoe National Forest · 0.5 mi
Sardine LakeTahoe National Forest · 1.6 miSardine CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 1.7 mi
Salmon CreekTahoe National Forest · 1.7 mi
Lakes BasinPlumas National Forest · 2.8 miFrom Sierraville, drive 18 miles south on Highway 49, turn right at Bassett, and drive approximately 1.5 miles to the Sardine Lake turnoff. Turn right at the Packer Lake turnoff (Forest Road 93) and continue to the campground.
From Downieville, head north (east) on Highway 49 for about 18 miles, turn left at Bassett, and drive approximately 1.5 miles to the Sardine Lake turnoff. Turn right at the Packer Lake turnoff (Forest Road 93) and continue to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sierra City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 63°F.
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
Berger 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 →