CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Stanislaus National Forest · CA

Big Meadow (Stanislaus National Forest)

Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:56 UTC

Why it’s closed, and what’s open near here Tell me when it comes back

Right now: Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:56 UTC
A night: $19–$60When it reopens, per site
Sites: 137In the agency’s record

Photos · U.S. Forest Service

53 ftLongest rig

6,530 ftElevation

1,663 ftWater · Big Meadow Creek

15.2 miNE of Arnold, CA

49%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices

In the agency’s own words

Big Meadow Campground lies at about 6,400 feet elevation on the Stanislaus National Forest. It is located 21 miles east of Arnold, California. Breathtaking views abound, and wildlife viewing opportunities include marmots, squirrels, and deer. Keep reading

Recreation

Picnicking, birding and hiking are popular pastimes at Big Meadow. Lake Alpine and Spicer Meadow Reservoir, both just a 15 minute drive away, offer fishing and other water activities.

Facilities

Big Meadow has 65 individual camping sites. Big Meadow Group camp is easily accessible from Highway 4 and can accommodate a maximum of 50 guests and 20 vehicles.

Natural Features

Big Meadow Campground is situated in Stanislaus National Forest. It is known for exceptional stargazing, remote location, spread out campsites, and large granite boulders. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (209) 753-6350.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

There is no potable water available at Big Meadow Campground. Water may be available out of spigots for washing and putting out fires, however it is not potable. Potable water is available at nearby Lake Alpine Campgrounds and Day Use areas, as well as for purchase at Lake Alpine Lodge. Please bring a bucket or suitable container for water to put out campfires.,

Rule

There may be a camp host present during business hours, but not living on-site. Any questions (non-reservation creation related) can be answered at 209-753-6350

Rule

Big Meadow Group is a reservation only campground. 50 people and 20 vehicles.

Everything else this campground posts · 1

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 137 · 11 tent-only, 1 group
Hookups: None
Longest rig: 53 ft
Accessible sites: None listed
Pets: Allowed at 66 of 69 sites
Campfires: 66 of 69 sites
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Vault Toilets; VAULT TOILETS on 69 of 137 campsite records

Source: counted from this campground’s own campsite records, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Reservoir, Lake, Meadow; Birding; Hiking
Night sky · 519th darkest of 1,201 in CA: Bortle 3

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:56 UTC

recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend

Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.

A night, when it reopens$19–$60plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

What’s open near here

Tell me when it reopens

Watch for it to come back

One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Every line of the receipt · 13

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, when it reopens$19–$60

Tent Only Nonelectric$19

Standard Nonelectric$30

Double Site$60

Group area, a night$100

Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 15, 2026 to Oct 11, 2026.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

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 · 4

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Oct 1, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Why this page can’t say why

recreation.gov lists every site at Big Meadow (Stanislaus National Forest) closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.

Closure: U.S. Forest Service status record · Oct 17, 2026

There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.

Open within 60 miles · 4

The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.

White Azalea CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 9.8 mi · walk-up
Mokelumne CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 10 mi · walk-up
Pardoes Point CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 11 mi · walk-up
Cascade Creek CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 12 mi · walk-up

Open near here: Agency-published status, in the CAMPANAC campground index · Oct 17, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 15:56 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

137 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 69 mapped sites

74 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most roomLoop GRP 001 Group Camp 313 ftLoop XXX X22 145 ftLoop BIG 006 126 ftLoop BIG 005 115 ftLoop BIG 001 108 ft

Least roomLoop XXX X53 28 ftLoop XXX X54 28 ftLoop XXX X55 33 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 137 sites

69 of 137 sites located

Standard58Tent only10Group1

001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 020 021 024 001 Group Camp X18 X19 X22 X23 X25 X26 X27 X28 X29 X30 X31 X32 X33 X34 X35 X36 X37 X38 X39 X40 X41 X42 X43 X44 X45 X46 X47 X48 X49 X50 X51 X52 X53 X54 X55 X56 X57 X58 X59 X60 X61 X62 X63 X64 X65 X66 X67 X68

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 69 of the 137 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. 133 of the 137 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.


A	01	type not stated	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed
A	02	standard nonelectric	27 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	03	standard nonelectric	27 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	04	standard nonelectric	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	05	standard nonelectric	34 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	06	standard nonelectric	33 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	07	standard nonelectric	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	08	standard nonelectric	37 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	09	standard nonelectric	26 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	10	standard nonelectric	31 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	11	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	12	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	13	standard nonelectric	22 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	14	standard nonelectric	42 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	15	standard nonelectric	26 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	16	standard nonelectric	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	17	standard nonelectric	50 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	18	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	19	standard nonelectric	38 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	20	standard nonelectric	31 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	21	standard nonelectric	39 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	22	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	23	standard nonelectric	24 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	24	standard nonelectric	34 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	25	type not stated	20 ft			Vault Toilets listed
A	26	standard nonelectric	22 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	27	standard nonelectric	32 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	28	standard nonelectric	30 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	29	standard nonelectric	23 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	30	type not stated	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed
A	31	standard nonelectric	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	32	standard nonelectric	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	33	standard nonelectric	37 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	34	standard nonelectric	23 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	35	standard nonelectric	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	36	standard nonelectric	23 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	37	standard nonelectric	23 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	38	standard nonelectric	17 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	39	standard nonelectric	17 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	40	standard nonelectric	33 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	41	standard nonelectric	34 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	42	standard nonelectric	31 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	43	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	44	standard nonelectric	20 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	45	standard nonelectric	28 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	46	standard nonelectric	37 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	47	standard nonelectric	43 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	48	standard nonelectric	20 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	49	standard nonelectric	38 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	50	standard nonelectric	28 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	51	standard nonelectric	40 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	52	standard nonelectric	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	53	type not stated	22 ft			Vault Toilets listed
A	54	standard nonelectric	34 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	55	standard nonelectric	30 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	56	standard nonelectric	42 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	57	standard nonelectric	33 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	58	standard nonelectric	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	59	standard nonelectric	45 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	60	standard nonelectric	50 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	61	standard nonelectric	25 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	62	standard nonelectric	36 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	63	standard nonelectric	22 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	64	standard nonelectric	31 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	65	standard nonelectric	38 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	66	standard nonelectric	38 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	67	standard nonelectric	53 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
A	68	standard nonelectric	38 ft			Vault Toilets listed	$30–$60
BIG	001	tent only nonelectric		108 ft	1,152 ft	1,277 ft	$19
BIG	002	tent only nonelectric		98 ft	1,084 ft	1,188 ft	$19
BIG	003	tent only nonelectric		90 ft	1,001 ft	1,093 ft	$19
BIG	004	tent only nonelectric		90 ft	918 ft	1,003 ft	$19
BIG	005	tent only nonelectric		115 ft	768 ft	867 ft	$19
BIG	006	tent only nonelectric		126 ft	1,016 ft	1,159 ft	$19
BIG	007	tent only nonelectric		99 ft	891 ft	1,046 ft	$19
BIG	008	tent only nonelectric		91 ft	775 ft	931 ft	$19
BIG	009	tent only nonelectric		99 ft	861 ft	984 ft	$19
BIG	010	tent only nonelectric		86 ft	698 ft	841 ft	$19
BIG	011	standard nonelectric		86 ft	614 ft	758 ft	$30–$60
BIG	012	standard nonelectric		95 ft	557 ft	671 ft	$30–$60
BIG	013	standard nonelectric		69 ft	526 ft	568 ft	$30–$60
BIG	014	standard nonelectric		75 ft	485 ft	487 ft	$30–$60
BIG	015	standard nonelectric		69 ft	457 ft	513 ft	$30–$60
BIG	016	standard nonelectric		49 ft	446 ft	415 ft	$30–$60
BIG	017	standard nonelectric		42 ft	406 ft	368 ft	$30–$60
BIG	020	standard nonelectric		64 ft	292 ft	372 ft	$30–$60
BIG	021	standard nonelectric		87 ft	254 ft	285 ft	$30–$60
BIG	024	standard nonelectric		92 ft	357 ft	522 ft	$30–$60
GRP	001 Group Camp	group tent only area nonelectric	20 ft	313 ft	under 10 ft	177 ft	$100
XXX	X18	standard nonelectric		42 ft	372 ft	328 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X19	standard nonelectric		64 ft	350 ft	381 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X22	standard nonelectric		145 ft	154 ft	362 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X23	standard nonelectric		92 ft	284 ft	510 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X25	standard nonelectric		54 ft	507 ft	678 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X26	standard nonelectric		54 ft	482 ft	682 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X27	standard nonelectric		74 ft	562 ft	804 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X28	standard nonelectric		74 ft	601 ft	802 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X29	standard nonelectric		93 ft	852 ft	1,107 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X30	standard nonelectric		106 ft	679 ft	969 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X31	standard nonelectric		93 ft	769 ft	1,072 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X32	standard nonelectric		45 ft	944 ft	1,220 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X33	standard nonelectric		45 ft	989 ft	1,252 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X34	standard nonelectric		67 ft	1,055 ft	1,299 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X35	standard nonelectric		86 ft	1,088 ft	1,281 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X36	standard nonelectric		74 ft	1,216 ft	1,434 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X37	standard nonelectric		74 ft	1,223 ft	1,402 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X38	standard nonelectric		64 ft	1,298 ft	1,451 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X39	standard nonelectric		64 ft	1,321 ft	1,499 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X40	standard nonelectric		49 ft	1,327 ft	1,459 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X41	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,390 ft	1,523 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X42	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,396 ft	1,518 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X43	standard nonelectric		49 ft	1,335 ft	1,455 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X44	standard nonelectric		84 ft	1,482 ft	1,604 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X45	standard nonelectric		84 ft	1,580 ft	1,709 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X46	standard nonelectric		43 ft	1,758 ft	1,934 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X47	standard nonelectric		43 ft	1,785 ft	1,972 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X48	standard nonelectric		78 ft	1,851 ft	2,048 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X49	standard nonelectric		84 ft	1,948 ft	2,124 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X50	standard nonelectric		84 ft	1,996 ft	2,192 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X51	standard nonelectric		78 ft	2,079 ft	2,346 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X52	standard nonelectric		78 ft	2,009 ft	2,321 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X53	standard nonelectric		28 ft	2,089 ft	2,439 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X54	standard nonelectric		28 ft	2,117 ft	2,440 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X55	standard nonelectric		34 ft	2,149 ft	2,445 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X56	standard nonelectric		34 ft	2,182 ft	2,424 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X57	standard nonelectric		34 ft	2,200 ft	2,394 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X58	standard nonelectric		101 ft	2,152 ft	2,295 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X59	standard nonelectric		93 ft	2,057 ft	2,178 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X60	standard nonelectric		57 ft	1,967 ft	2,084 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X61	standard nonelectric		57 ft	1,969 ft	2,107 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X62	standard nonelectric		60 ft	1,865 ft	1,983 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X63	standard nonelectric		63 ft	1,870 ft	2,010 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X64	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,811 ft	1,941 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X65	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,766 ft	1,905 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X66	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,699 ft	1,821 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X67	standard nonelectric		48 ft	1,656 ft	1,775 ft	$30–$60
XXX	X68	standard nonelectric		71 ft	1,438 ft	1,545 ft	$30–$60

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Oct 1, 2026

25 of 137 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate38.41639, -120.10500

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone209-795-1381

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near hereBig Meadow CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 0.1 mi Stanislaus River CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 3.2 mi Utica Reservoir CampgroundsStanislaus National Forest · 5.0 mi

Sandy Flat - Utica Reservoir (Stanislaus NF)Stanislaus National Forest · 5.0 mi Spicer Reservoir Group CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 5.7 mi

Union West CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 5.8 mi

Getting there

From Arnold, California, take Highway 4 east for 25 miles to the Big Meadow Campground.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight46°Clear

Saturday69°Sunny

Saturday Night42°Clear

Sunday65°Sunny

NWS forecast for Bear Valley, CA

Source: National Weather Service, STO forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 29°F, day 62°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 18°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE AP, CA (USW00093230), 34 miles away and 216 ft lower

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless

Mt. Reba3,869 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Salt Springs133 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: USFS Inventoried Roadless Areas via MTJP Roadless Map · Jul 29, 2026

Who answers for this land

Big Meadow (Stanislaus National Forest) is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov lists every site here closed on Friday and Saturday night (read 15:56 UTC). U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so the reason isn’t on this page. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one, and the reservations the record still carries predate the closure. That reading is ours, off the agency’s own booking record.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 68 of the 137 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 69 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.13 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 1,201 rated federal campgrounds in California · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest place of any size: Bear Valley, CA, 2.8 mi SW (a census designated place). Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026