Castle Lake Campground
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Description : This small primitive campground is nestled in a thick mixed conifer forest approximately ¼ mile below Castle Lake. There are 6 sites with tables, fire rings and vault toilets. Bring your own water. 3-night limit. No fee. No reservations. Not recommended for large vehicle or trailers. Usually opens around the end of May depending on when the snow melts, and usually is closed by snow around the first of November. Features : Visitors may walk or drive the short distance to the lake. Keep reading
Castle Lake is a pristine glacial cirque lake with granite cliffs and clear water, one of the most popular attractions in the Mt. Shasta area. Hiking, swimming, fishing, and flat-water kayaking are favorite activities here. There are a few hiking trails to explore including the short and easy Shoreline Trail on the west side of the lake. Special note about Castle Lake Please be aware that Castle Lake is partially situated on private property. The traditional trail to Heart Lake and Little Castle Lake leaves the east end of the parking area and ascends to the divide above the east side of the lake. It begins on public land in section 24 of T39N R5W but immediately crosses the boundary of section 19 of T39N R4W. This entire section of land (about 640 acres) is privately owned property and posted as such. There is no legal access across this section to these lakes. Please be respectful and avoid trespassing. However, the west shore of the lake is public and features a short trail with easy access to the water.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…are 6 sites with tables, fire rings and vault toilets. Bring your own water. 3-night limit. No fee. No…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…tables, fire rings and vault toilets. Bring your own water. 3-night limit. No fee. No reservations. Not…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 3
What you actually pay
How we know this receipt · 4
rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Girard Ridge LookoutShasta National Forest · 9.1 miMcBride Springs CampgroundShasta National Forest · 9.5 mi
Red Fir Flat Group CampgroundShasta National Forest · 9.9 miSims Flat CampgroundShasta National Forest · 12 miPanther Meadows CampgroundShasta National Forest · 12 miThe weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Dunsmuir, CA
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Castle Lake Campground 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.