Black Mountain Lookout
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 2 of the next 2 nights read 16:17 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Black Mountain Lookout is located on the eastern edge of the Beckwourth Ranger District, 10 miles from Highway 395, near Milford, California. The lookout was constructed in 1934 and is a great example of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) architecture. The C-3-type lookout is situated on a single story 10 foot tower and is extremely well-preserved. The lookout tower is normally available for Memorial Day weekend through October, offering guests a unique lodging experience in Plumas National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, birding, stargazing and wildlife viewing are popular among guests of the lookout. On a clear night, visitors can gaze upon the expansive sky as it unfolds with a dazzling display of stars.
Facilities
The one-room lookout cabin is set on a tower, rising 10 feet above the ground. It is furnished with two single beds with mattresses, but can accommodate up to four people. There is also space for tent camping adjacent to the lookout, for up to four visitors. The cabin has a small table and chairs, a refrigerator, a small stove, heater, and lights, all powered with electricity. A picnic table and vault toilet are also on site. Although the lookout provides a few amenities, guests must bring several of their own, including food, cooking utensils, sleeping bags, towels, dish soap and garbage bags. No water is available at this facility, so guests must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and washing. Packing an additional light source is also recommended.
Natural Features
The Plumas National Forest is defined by its unique land features and pleasant climate. Outdoor enthusiasts are attracted to the many streams and lakes, beautiful deep canyons, rich mountain valleys, meadows and lofty peaks. Guests at Black Mountain Lookout are treated to striking views of Honey Lake to the north, and Last Chance Creek to the south. Diverse vegetation provides a habitat for wildlife including deer, coyotes, bald eagles and osprey. Frenchman Lake is within a 30-minute drive from the lookout. This lake is popular for swimming, water skiing, fishing and camping. Charges & Cancellations reservations may only be modified or cancelled up to three days in advance of arrival date.
What the agency tells you
Entry to the cabin is by key; contact the Beckwourth Ranger District at (530) 836-2575 for the combination to the lock box and to check on any restrictions or conditions, such as fire or road closures, weather or storms that may affect the quality of your visit. The office is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Access to the cabin is by dirt road; high clearance vehicles are recommended
Maximum capacity of the tower is four people, however tent camping adjacent to the tower is available for up to four guests
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Pets are welcome
Keep the building and grounds clean to deter squirrel, mice, rats, bears, and other wildlife from area
Pack out all trash
Doors and windows should be locked and all personal items removed upon departure
The lookout tower is a no-smoking facility
Bring enough water for your stay.
reservations may only be modified or cancelled up to three days in advance of arrival date.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with electricity. A picnic table and vault toilet are also on site. Although the lookout provides a…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…towels, dish soap and garbage bags. No water is available at this facility, so guests must bring…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:17 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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
“reservations may only be modified or cancelled up to three days in advance of arrival date.” · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:17 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BLACK MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT | 001 | cabin electric | 1.8 mi | 66 ft | $60 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Long Point (CA)Plumas National Forest · 14 miAntelope Lake Recreation AreaPlumas National Forest · 15 miLightning Tree CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 16 miAccess to the lookout is by a dirt road; high clearance vehicles are recommended. Visitors should be aware that access is subject to inclement weather during the early and late season.
Black Mountain Lookout is located on the eastern edge of the Beckwourth Ranger District, 10 miles from Highway 395, near Milford, California.
From Highway 395 at Milford take County Road 336 to Milford Grade. Turn right onto Milford Grade (also named County Road 336 and Forest Rd. 26N70. Turn left on Forest Road 26N80 and continue on this road to lookout.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Milford, CA
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Black Mountain Lookout is in California’s 1st congressional district. Whoever holds it votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. See how its representative votes on public lands →
Our roster still carries Doug LaMalfa for this district and the current federal record doesn’t list them as sitting, so we’re not naming a representative here until the two agree.
Who can change it · 2
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Black Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Black Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Black Mountain Lookout are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Black Mountain Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Black Mountain Lookout. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Black Mountain Lookout (Plumas National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Black Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Black Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Black Mountain Lookout are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Black Mountain Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Black Mountain Lookout. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Black Mountain Lookout (Plumas National Forest, California) via campanac.com