Carlton
1Heads up1 fire 28 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:40 UTC
- A night
- $24When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 17In the agency’s record
- Season
- April 17 – October 13Open April 17 through October 13
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Carlton Campground is located along the North Yuba River, adjacent to Highway 49 and 13 miles from Downieville. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, hunting, fishing, canoeing and biking. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
The North Yuba River offers swimming, wading and rainbow trout fishing. Seasonal rafting and kayaking are popular water activities. A network of trails through the surrounding area providing opportunities for hiking, biking and OHV use. The North Yuba River Trail can be accessed from the nearby Rocky Rest trailhead.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family campsites suited for both tent and trailer camping. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
The campground stretches along the North Yuba River, next to the highway. Stands of cedar, ponderosa pine and oak trees cover the area providing shade from the afternoon sun. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-5431.
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
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.
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 3
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), (530) 288-3656 (TDD).
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.
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
- 17
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features The campground…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Water sports
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:40 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
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
“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 · 6
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Carlton 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.
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.
- Salmon CreekTahoe National Forest · 22 mi · 32 sites
- Chapman Creek CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 26 mi · walk-up
- Shirttail CreekTahoe National Forest · 28 mi · 39 sites
- Giant GapTahoe National Forest · 29 mi · 30 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:40 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
17 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 16 mapped sitesAll 17 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. 17 of the 17 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA CARLTON | 002 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 138 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 003 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 131 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 004 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 133 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 005 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 149 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 006 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 155 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 007 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 162 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 008 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 162 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 009 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 181 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 010 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 200 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 011 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 189 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 012 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 168 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 013 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 163 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 014 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 183 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 015 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 198 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 016 | standard nonelectric | 86 ft | 182 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 017 | standard nonelectric | 86 ft | 179 ft | $24 |
| AREA CARLTON | 018 | standard nonelectric | $24 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
CAL-IDATahoe National Forest · 0.2 mi
Fiddle CreekTahoe National Forest · 0.4 mi
Indian ValleyTahoe National Forest · 0.9 mi
Rocky RestTahoe National Forest · 1.2 mi
RamshornTahoe National Forest · 4.9 miStrawberry CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 6.4 miFrom Downieville, travel south on Highway 49 for just over 13 miles. The campground is on the left side of the highway.
From Nevada City, travel north on Highway 49 for just under 30 miles. The campground is on the right side of the highway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Camptonville, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 72°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Carlton 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 →