Diablo
1Heads up1 fire 39 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 19All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 14 – October 15Open June 14 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Diablo Campground is located in the Packer Lake area near the Sierra Buttes, in northern California. It is north of the Yuba River and next to Packer Creek. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, biking, hunting, fishing and canoeing. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
A large network of trails is available in this area including the Pacific Crest Trail which can easily be accessed from the trailhead adjacent to the nearby Packsaddle Campround. Hikers can reach a variety of alpine lakes, which offer plentiful fishing. Canoeing opportunities are available at Packer Lake.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family, tent campsites on two loops. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided.
Natural Features
The campground lies near the banks of Packer Creek. Stands of lodgepole pine provides partial shade at many sites. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-4531.
Nearby Attractions
The 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
One vehicle (or two motorcycles) is 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.
Drinking water is not availble
Additional parking is remote
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
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
- 19 · 7 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided. Natural Features The campground lies…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 498th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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 · 14
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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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.
“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
The sites
19 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 19 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. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA DIABLO | 001 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 154 ft | 505 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 386 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 62 ft | 393 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 81 ft | 352 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 55 ft | 308 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 006 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 55 ft | 269 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 61 ft | 295 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 008 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 338 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 009 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 94 ft | 239 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 010A | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 258 ft | 517 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 010B | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 258 ft | 319 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 011 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 61 ft | 217 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 012 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 192 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 144 ft | 221 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 014 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 260 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 54 ft | 312 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 54 ft | 361 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 017 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 70 ft | 484 ft | $18 |
| AREA DIABLO | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 70 ft | 500 ft | $18 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
BergerTahoe National Forest · 0.5 mi
PacksaddleTahoe National Forest · 0.9 mi
Sardine LakeTahoe National Forest · 1.4 mi
Salmon CreekTahoe National Forest · 1.5 miSardine CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 1.5 mi
Lakes BasinPlumas National Forest · 2.6 miFrom Sierraville, travel south on Highway 49 for 18 miles. Turn right at Bassett and continue just over a mile to the Sardine Lake turnoff. Turn right at Packer Lake/Forest Road 93 and continue to the campground.
From Downieville, travel north on Highway 49 for about 18 miles. Turn left at Bassett and continue just over a mile to the Sardine Lake turnoff. Turn right at Packer Lake/Forest Road 93 and continue 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 Sierra City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 63°F.
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
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Diablo 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 →