Dru Barner Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 16 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $8From, per site
- Sites
- 48All of them booked ahead
- Season
- January 1 – December 31Open January 1 through December 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Dru Barner Campground offers 48 campsites that are nestled in the forest just 6 miles from Georgetown, CA. The campground offers access to trails, creeks and is a short drive from some nearby reservoirs. This campground was designed for equestrians, but it can also be used by tent, camper, trailer and recreational vehicles. Common wildlife to the area includes turkeys, deer, bears, coyote and racoons. Portions of the campground have a canopy of trees, but many of the camp units have very little shade. Keep reading
Recreation
Dru Barner Campground provides some good camping opportunities without having to drive long distances into the forest. Dru Barner Campground provides access to many non-motorized trails. It also is close to the Rock Creek Trail System that has both non-motorized, motorized, and multiple use trails. Several horse clubs have used Dru Barner Campground as the staging area for equestrian recreation events under special use permits. Several horse clubs have hosted barbecues and taco bars at the group kitchen area after their trail rides. Some couples have used the group kitchen area for weddings. Stumpy Meadows Reservoir is located only about 15 miles to the east for those seeking water-based recreation. There is a campground concessionaire that operates the Stumpy Meadows Boat Ramp and Picnic Area. A day use fee is charged for those facilities. Stumpy Meadows Reservoir has a 5-mile speed limit for motor boats. Rafts, canoes and kayakers frequently travel on the reservoir. There are some shorelines that provide access for swimming and wading.
Facilities
Dru Barner Campground has camp units equipped with picnic tables and fire rings. The campground roads have gravel surfaces. Most of the parking spurs have gravel surfaces with others having dirt surfaces. The parking spurs vary in length to handle longer trailers and RVs to spurs for a car or truck with a short horse trailer. There is a group kitchen area equipped with two large barbecue grills, two serving tables, a large fire ring and 11 picnic tables that can be rented. Six of the camp units have large bear proof food containers that can hold two coolers. Some of the camp units have horse corrals nearby. There are also hitching posts near some of the restrooms and high line posts between camp sites. The campground has potable water from water faucets distributed throughout the campground. There is a two-unit flush restroom equipped with sinks. There are also two vault restrooms located in the northern portion of the campground.
Natural Features
Dru Barner Campground sits on a ridgeline of the Hornblende Mountains. To the north, Otter Creek has cut a forested canyon. To the south, there are the rolling ridges that surround Rock Creek. There are forests of Ponderosa pine, sugar pine, Douglas-fir, white fir and incense cedar with groups of black oak and madrone. This campground is about 15 miles west of Stumpy Meadows Reservoir. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 334-6477.
Nearby Attractions
A nearby attraction is the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, CA. This attraction is located about 16 miles southeast of Dru Barner Campground. It is where James W. Marshall discovered gold in 1848. This started the California Gold Rush. Historic building such as the blacksmith shop, mill workers cabin and the Coloma schoolhouse are available to see. There are gold panning demonstrations. There is a Gold Discovery Trail to learn the history and see the sites.
What the agency tells you
The campground is designed for equestrians, but open to all, including those with no animals • Well-behaved pets are welcome, but please keep them on leash at all times • The campground is equipped with several pull through parking spurs, corrals, hitching posts and access to trails • Caution: There are bears in the area. Please keep food, soaps and garbage properly stored • This campground may also used for day-use facilities for staging non-motorized trail recreation. A day use fee is charged per vehicle • Non-potable water is available in the campground. It is recommended that you bring your own drinking water
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 48 · 26 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 48 of 49 campsite records / ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 48 of 49 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 48 of 49 campsite records, WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 49 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek, Meadow
- Night sky · 978th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 10 days ago, 35 km away
- Minimal color
Full this Saturdayread 15:22 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
Every one of the 4 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 39 are free on Thu, Oct 22. read 15:22 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 21
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $8 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 15:22 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
49 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 48 mapped sitesAll 49 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 48 of the 49 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.
| Dru Barner CG | 1 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 154 ft | 1,896 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 10 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 34 ft | 2,067 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 11 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 34 ft | 2,058 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 12 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 136 ft | 2,059 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 13 | rv nonelectric | 20 ft | 39 ft | 1,884 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 14 | rv nonelectric | 20 ft | 39 ft | 1,861 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 15 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 84 ft | 1,800 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 16 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 62 ft | 1,745 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 17 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 44 ft | 1,712 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 18 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 44 ft | 1,699 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 19 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 65 ft | 1,540 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 2 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 45 ft | 1,885 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 20 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 32 ft | 1,482 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 21 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 32 ft | 1,463 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 22 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 50 ft | 1,454 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 23 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 50 ft | 1,408 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 24 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 107 ft | 1,765 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 25 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 45 ft | 1,911 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 26 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 50 ft | 1,972 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 27 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 49 ft | 1,961 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 28 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 49 ft | 1,925 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 29 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 52 ft | 1,921 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 3 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 73 ft | 1,853 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 30 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 1,886 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 31 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 52 ft | 1,871 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 32 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 1,842 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 33 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 30 ft | 1,969 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 34 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 30 ft | 1,945 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 35 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 66 ft | 2,016 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 36 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 74 ft | 1,954 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 37 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 1,834 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 38 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 23 ft | 1,983 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 39 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 23 ft | 1,991 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 4 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 45 ft | 1,847 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 40 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 2,036 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 41 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 23 ft | 1,990 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 42 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 26 ft | 2,017 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 43 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 23 ft | 2,013 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 44 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 34 ft | 1,966 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 45 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | 71 ft | 1,905 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 46 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 70 ft | 1,805 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 47 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 1,733 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 48 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 1,765 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 5 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 35 ft | 1,850 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 6 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 35 ft | 1,866 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 7 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 80 ft | 1,894 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 8 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 83 ft | 1,907 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | 9 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 86 ft | 1,967 ft | $8 |
| Dru Barner CG | Group Kitchen Area | day use | 1,615 ft | $3 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. 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 49 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Stumpy MeadowsEldorado National Forest · 9.7 mi
Black OakEldorado National Forest · 9.9 mi
Ponderosa Cove Campground9.9 miForbes Group CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 13 mi
Forbes CreekTahoe National Forest · 13 miFrom Auburn, CA, take Highway 49 south to the junction of Highway 193 and 49 in Cool, CA. Turn left onto Highway 193 east to Georgetown, CA. At the intersection of Main Street and Highway 193, turn left and continue on Main Street, which becomes the Wentworth Springs Road (County Route 63) for approximately 6 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 13N16 and proceed north for approximately 1.2 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 13N58 (also known as the Bottlehill Road) and travel west approximately 0.5 miles. The entrance Dru Barner Campground is on your left.
From Placerville, CA, take Highway 49 north to the junction of Highway 193 and 49 in Placerville, CA. Turn right onto Highway 193 and head north to Georgetown, CA. At the intersection of Main Street and Highway 193, turn right and continue on Main Street, which becomes the Wentworth Springs Road (County Route 63) for approximately 6 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 13N16 for travel north for approximately 1.2 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 13N58 (also known as the Bottlehill Road) and travel west for approximately 0.5 miles. The entrance Dru Barner Campground is on your left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Georgetown, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Dru Barner Campground 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyKevin KileyU.S. Representative · California’s 3rd district
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-225-2523.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California
Dear Kevin Kiley, I’m a constituent in California’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 48 sites at Dru Barner Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Dru Barner Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Dru Barner Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Dru Barner Campground (Eldorado National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 48 sites at Dru Barner Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Dru Barner Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Dru Barner Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Dru Barner Campground (Eldorado National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Dru Barner Campground, Eldorado National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 48 sites at Dru Barner Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Dru Barner Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Dru Barner Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Dru Barner Campground (Eldorado National Forest, California) via campanac.com