1Heads up1 fire 41 mi away
Wildfire
Old fire · 41 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
ReservableOut of season; the next season isn't published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$24–$48Across the site types the agency prices
Sites
2522 on recreation.gov
45 ftLongest rig
5,850 ftElevation
376 ftWater · North Yuba River
11.6 miSW of Portola, CA
48%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices

In the agency’s own words

Chapman Creek Campground is located next to Chapman Creek, near the North Yuba River. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, mountain biking, hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing, This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading

Recreation

A large network of hiking trails is available in the area, including the nearby Pacific Crest Trail. The trailhead for the 2-mile long Chapman Creek Trail is located within the campground. Boating, fishing and swimming opportunites are available at nearby Sardine Lakes, about five miles from the campground. Sardine Lakes Resort offers boat rentals.

Facilities

The campground offers several single-family campsites. Each site is equipped with a picnic table, food storage locker and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided.

Natural Features

The campground is split into two loops, with one overlooking Chapman Creek and the other, neighboring a small meadow. Stands of mature fir and lodgepole pine trees covers the area, providing pleasant shade at most campsites. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-4531.

Nearby Attractions

The nearby Lakes Basin area offers boating, fishing, hiking and more than 30 miles of maintained trails, that are also open to biking and horseback riding. The lakes provide visitors with ample opportunities to enjoy boating, canoeing and fishing. Anglers will find rainbow and brook trout in many of the scenic bodies of water in the area. A boat ramp is located at Gold Lake.

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

Rule

Off-highway vehicle use is prohibited within the campground.

Rule

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.

Rule

Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers

Everything else this campground posts · 5
Rule

Utility hookups and showers are not available

Rule

Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest

Rule

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).

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.

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
25 · 4 tent-only, 1 walk-in
Hookups
None
Longest rig
45 ft
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…food storage locker 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 is…”
Boat ramp
Yes
Bear boxes
Yes
Stay limit
14 nights
recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
Biking
Boating
Fishing
Hiking
Hunting
Swimming
Night sky · 538th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Bortle 3
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

recreation.gov lists 22 of the 25 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. The last reservable season the agency published ended October 15, 2026, and it hasn't published the next one.recreation.gov
Max stay14 nightsthe facility record
A night$24–$48plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$56–$104DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservation; this campground publishes its own terms toorecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 14

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, per site$24–$48
Standard Nonelectric$24
Double Site$48
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Aug 25, 2026 to Oct 15, 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.
What this campground addsits own record
Extra vehicle$5

“Additional vehicle fee cost is $5/each per night for all untowed vehicles.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice

What a stay costs
One nightDerived$32–$56
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$56–$104

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $24–$48 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.

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

“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 · 7

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

26 records · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 25 mapped sites
88 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least room005D 46 ft006 46 ft012 66 ft

All 26 records

26 of 26 records located
Standard16Tent only4RV / electric4Walk, hike or boat in1Host pad1
SleepsTakes aUp to

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 26 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

AREA CHAPMAN001Drv nonelectric40 ft79 ft591 ft
AREA CHAPMAN002Drv nonelectric35 ft127 ft563 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN003Drv nonelectric14 ft129 ft437 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN004standard nonelectric30 ft153 ft258 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN005Drv nonelectric28 ft45 ft664 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN006standard nonelectric28 ft45 ft660 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN007standard nonelectric28 ft88 ft669 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN008standard nonelectric35 ft103 ft608 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN009standard nonelectric30 ft110 ft498 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN010standard nonelectric28 ft136 ft93 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN011tent only nonelectric10 ft77 ft164 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN012tent only nonelectric10 ft66 ft155 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN013standard nonelectric22 ft66 ft157 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN014standard nonelectric30 ft96 ft190 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN015standard nonelectric20 ft96 ft97 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN016standard nonelectric99 ft217 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN017tent only nonelectric8 ft68 ft313 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN018tent only nonelectric18 ft68 ft315 ftChapman Creek
AREA CHAPMAN019standard nonelectric36 ft138 ft469 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN020standard nonelectric20 ft76 ft606 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN021standard nonelectric40 ft76 ft606 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN022walk to16 ft124 ft730 ftChapman Creek$24
AREA CHAPMAN025standard nonelectric45 ft109 ft840 ftChapman Creek$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN026standard nonelectric36 ft84 ft882 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMAN027standard nonelectric36 ft84 ft812 ft$24–$48
AREA CHAPMANHost Sitehost pad35 ft536 ft

The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.

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 26 listed

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate39.62944, -120.54472
The phone(530)478-6253
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Sierra City, take Highway 49 north 8 miles. The campground is on the left side of the highway.

From Sierraville, take Highway 49 south 14.8 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

This Afternoon70°Sunny
Tonight43°Clear
Saturday67°Sunny
Saturday Night41°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Sierra City, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 48°F, day 63°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical February night 33°F. Bring the bag rated for it.

90°32°20°

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: BLUE CANYON AP, CA (USW00023225), 26 miles away and 574 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Lakes Basin557 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
East Yuba17,968 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Kevin Kiley, official portrait

Chapman 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
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: Sierra City, CA, 4.5 mi NE (a census designated place). Straight line.