Boulder Creek (CA)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $36From, per site
- Sites
- 4442 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Boulder Creek Campground is located in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, where ancient glaciers gave way to numerous mountain lakes and vast granite peaks. Year round, outdoor enthusiasts are attracted to the area's many streams and lakes, beautiful deep canyons, rich mountain valleys, meadows and lofty peaks. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground provides educational campfire programs at the amphitheater. It offers several single-family campsites and while none are directly on the lake, a few sites have a limited view of the water. Antelope Lake provides ample opportunities for swimming, canoeing, kayaking, boating and water skiing. A multi-lane boat ramp is available less than two miles from the campground. Anglers enjoy fishing for large and smallmouth bass, bluegill and a variety of trout. The rugged terrain and dusty mountain trails are perfect for mountain biking, but offer limited opportunities for hiking near the campground.
Facilities
The campground offers several single-family sites open to both tent and RV camping, a short walk from the lake. Several sites are also available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tables and campfire rings are provided, as well as vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
The campground is located near Antelope Lake, which is a small, remote lake with about 15 miles of forested shoreline. Surrounding the lake are mountains blanketed with Jeffrey and lodgepole pines and fir trees. Protected coves around the lake attract several species of migratory birds. The site sits at an elevation of 5,000 feet.
Nearby Attractions
Fishing is also plentiful in Indian Creek, below the spillway at nearby Antelope Dam. The nearest gas and phone is 25 miles from the campground in Taylorsville, CA.
What the agency tells you
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.
RV dump station is closed indefinitely
Caution! Bears frequent the area; food must be kept in appropriate containers
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Additional boat launch fee applies
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.
Firewood bundles may be purchased from a Campground Host.
A per Day, per Vehicle fee will be collected onsite for extra vehicles.
America the Beautiful, Senior Passes, and Access Passes are accepted for single campsites only. They are not accepted for double or group campsites.
Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out is Noon
Campground Map
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 44
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 51 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campfire rings are provided, as well as vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…provided, as well as vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground is located near…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Ranger programs
- Other Recreation Concession Site
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 336th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 2
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:23 UTC
recreation.gov lists 42 of the 44 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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.
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, $36 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:23 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
44 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 42 mapped sitesAll 44 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. 42 of the 44 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 BOULDER CREEK | 012 | type not stated | 30 ft | 408 ft | ||
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 013 | type not stated | 25 ft | 346 ft | ||
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 170 ft | 406 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 117 ft | 597 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 580 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 031 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 577 ftIndian Creek | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 032 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 574 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 560 ftIndian Creek | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 034 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 66 ft | 575 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 035 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 86 ft | 595 ftIndian Creek | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 036 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 84 ft | 525 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 037 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 84 ft | 479 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 038 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 110 ft | 428 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 039 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 62 ft | 318 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 040 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 97 ft | 329 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 041 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 62 ft | 264 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 042 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 94 ft | 199 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 043 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 61 ft | 198 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 044 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 146 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 045 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 141 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 046 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 81 ft | 244 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 047 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 43 ft | 218 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 048 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 43 ft | 258 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 049 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 54 ft | 242 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 050 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 54 ft | 249 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 051 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 64 ft | 286 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 052 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 98 ft | 373 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 053 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 89 ft | 496 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 054 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 89 ft | 412 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 055 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 78 ft | 440 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 056 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 78 ft | 371 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 057 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 83 ft | 435 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 058 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 83 ft | 367 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 059 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 66 ft | 413 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 060 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 66 ft | 478 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 061 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 66 ft | 414 ftIndian Creek | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 062 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 66 ft | 473 ftIndian Creek | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 063 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 394 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 064 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 67 ft | 347 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 065 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 84 ft | 470 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 066 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 84 ft | 413 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 067 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 99 ft | 516 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 068 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 99 ft | 443 ft | $36 |
| AREA BOULDER CREEK | 069 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 99 ft | 536 ft | $36 |
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 44 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lone Rock (CA)Plumas National Forest · 0.9 miAntelope Lake Recreation AreaPlumas National Forest · 1.2 mi
Long Point (CA)Plumas National Forest · 1.8 miLaufman Family CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 14 miRoxie Peconom CampgroundLassen National Forest · 16 miFrom Oroville, take Highway 70 and head east 72 miles to Highway 89. Turn left and go 8 miles. Turn right on Road A22 (Arlington). Go 7 miles through Taylorsville to a "T" at the rodeo grounds. Turn right and head 20 miles to Antelope Lake. Follow the signs 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 Janesville, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 25°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Boulder Creek (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 →