Big Cove (Plumas National Forest, CA)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $38–$71Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6239 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big Cove Campground (5,700 feet) is located near the shores of Frenchman Lake in Northeastern California. Some families have been returning here for more than thirty years. Situated at the interface between the wild Sierra and the high desert, it's a perfect place to serve as hub for a wide range of recreation opportunities. Plumas National Forest has many back roads open for exploration. Take advantage of the beautiful blue waters of Frenchman Lake for boating, fishing and other water sports. Tell stories around your campfire. Keep reading
Recreation
Little Last Chance Creek offers plenty of streamside recreation including fishing, nature viewing, photography and just relaxing. Frenchman Lake provides the perfect location for swimming, boating, lake fishing, skiing, jet skiing, paddle boarding and canoeing. The entire recreation area and surrounding National Forest is available for nature viewing, photography, picnicking, hunting, biking or exploring forest roads. Dispursed camping is not allowed in the recreation area.
Facilities
The campground offers single and double family campsites for tent and RV camping. Accessible campsites are available. Fifteen of the 38 campsites can be reserved during peak season. All other campsites may be taken as 'First Come' sites. All 'First Come' sites must be occupied on the first night rented. Big Cove Campground also offers coin operated showers, accessible flush toilets, drinking water, trash bins and paved roads during peak camping season. An RV dump station is located nearby, at Cottonwood Springs Campground.
Natural Features
Just experiencing the drive into the Frenchman Lake Recreation Area is worth the trip. Little Last Chance Creek has eroded through ancient lava flows to produce this very scenic canyon known as the Little Last Chance Scenic Area. At the interface of desert and mountain climates, this area gets less precipitation than areas to the west and more precipitation than areas east. Desert scrub grows alongside pine forest. Some campsites overlook the lake's blue waters and nearby meadows. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 836-2575.
Nearby Attractions
Little Last Chance Canyon Scenic Area. Sierra Valley - Largest valley in the Sierra Nevada. Stores and services in the towns of Chilcoot and Loyalton. Many forest roads to explore - take along a map and a full gas tank.
Charges & Cancellations
America the Beautiful Senior and Access Passes are accepted for single family sites and not for double sites.
What the agency tells you
America the Beautiful, Senior Passes and Access Passes are accepted for single campsites. They are not accepted for double or group campsites.
Generally, campsites will accommodate 2 vehicles. The first vehicle is included in the site fee, the second vehicle fee will be collected onsite at the daily rate posted on the fee sign.
Click here to learn more about the Plumas National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Before arriving for your reservation become aware of bear safety. Many black bears live in the nearby forest. They do come into the campground during the day as well as night. Bear safe food lockers are not available in the campground. Please go to the following link for more information: http://www.centerforwildlifeinformation.org/
Get your firewood locally. This will prevent the introduction of pests and invasive species into this area. Campground hosts have firewood for sale, you may collect firewood for your campfire in the National Forest. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out is Noon
Campground Map
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 62
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 95 ft
- Accessible sites
- 29
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…offers coin operated showers, accessible flush toilets, drinking water, trash bins and paved roads during…”
- Showers
- Coin Showers
- “Big Cove Campground also offers coin operated showers, accessible flush toilets, drinking water, trash bins and paved roads during peak camping season.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…showers, accessible flush toilets, drinking water, trash bins and paved roads during peak camping…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Jet Skiing
- Paddle Boating
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water Skiing
- Water sports
- Night sky · 639th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 39 of the 62 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $38–$71 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.
“America the Beautiful Senior and Access Passes are accepted for single family sites and not for double sites.” · this campground’s own 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
67 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 67 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 62 of the 67 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA BIG COVE | 000 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | yes | 88 ft | 423 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 002 | standard nonelectric | yes | 121 ft | 468 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 002 | type not stated | 468 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 115 ft | 591 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 004 | standard nonelectric | yes | 84 ft | 504 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 004 | type not stated | 504 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 005 | type not stated | 577 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 005 | standard nonelectric | yes | 84 ft | 577 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 006 | type not stated | 364 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 006 | standard nonelectric | yes | 105 ft | 364 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 105 ft | 467 ft | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 121 ft | 491 ft | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 115 ft | 563 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 010 | standard nonelectric | yes | 88 ft | 469 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 010 | type not stated | 469 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 011 | standard nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 349 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 012 | standard nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 390 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 013 | type not stated | 257 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 013 | standard nonelectric | yes | 93 ft | 257 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 014 | type not stated | 287 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 014 | standard nonelectric | yes | 85 ft | 287 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 015 | standard nonelectric | yes | 67 ft | 209 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 015 | type not stated | 209 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 016 | standard nonelectric | yes | 67 ft | 272 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 017 | standard nonelectric | yes | 75 ft | 247 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 017 | type not stated | 247 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | yes | 96 ft | 344 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 019 | type not stated | 264 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 019 | standard nonelectric | yes | 96 ft | 264 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 109 ft | 354 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 021 | standard nonelectric | yes | 62 ft | 347 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 021 | type not stated | 347 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 62 ft | 288 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 023 | type not stated | 382 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | yes | 93 ft | 382 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 024 | type not stated | 295 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | yes | 93 ft | 295 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | yes | 79 ft | 244 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 025 | type not stated | 244 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 026 | type not stated | 193 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 79 ft | 193 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 027 | type not stated | 243 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 83 ft | 243 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 160 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 029 | type not stated | 247 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 029 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 111 ft | 247 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 030 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 24 ft | 232 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 031 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 108 ft | 278 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 031 | type not stated | 278 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 032 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | yes | 82 ft | 327 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 032 | type not stated | 327 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 033 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | yes | 24 ft | 245 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 033 | type not stated | 264 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 034 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 23 ft | 351 ft | $38–$71 | |
| AREA BIG COVE | 035 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | yes | 23 ft | 372 ft | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 035 | type not stated | 455 ft | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 036 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | yes | 100 ft | 396 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 036 | type not stated | 396 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | 037 | standard nonelectric | 146 ft | 475 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 | ||
| AREA BIG COVE | 038 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | yes | 126 ft | 368 ftFrenchman Lake | $38–$71 |
| AREA BIG COVE | 038 | type not stated | 416 ftFrenchman Lake | $38 | |||
| AREA BIG COVE | XXX | unnamed record | $38 | ||||
| AREA BIG COVE | XXX24 | unnamed record | $38 | ||||
| AREA BIG COVE | XXX25 | unnamed record | $38 | ||||
| AREA BIG COVE | XXX26 | unnamed record | $38 | ||||
| AREA BIG COVE | XXX27 | unnamed record | $38 |
The agency files 5 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It types every one of them MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 67 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Spring CreekPlumas National Forest · 0.5 mi
FrenchmanPlumas National Forest · 0.8 miCottonwood Springs CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 2.3 mi
ChilcootPlumas National Forest · 2.5 miFrom Reno, Nevada, take Highway 395 north for 24 miles. Merge onto State Rout 70 west and continue for 5 miles to the town of Chilcoot. Turn right on State Rout 284 and continue for 8 miles to Frenchman Lake. Cross the dam and proceed 2 miles 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 Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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 more
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
Big Cove (Plumas National Forest, CA) 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 →