Emigrant Group
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- Sites
- 64 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 27 – October 11Open May 27 through October 11
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Emigrant Group Campground is located alongside the beautiful Stampede Reservoir. The campground is located approximately 30 minutes from the town of Truckee, Calif. Visitors enjoy the area for its boating, fishing and abundant hiking and off-road trails. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating, water skiing, swimming and fishing are popular activities on the reservoir. Anglers will find rainbow and brown trout and kokanee salmon. A boat ramp is located a half-mile away. Many miles of hiking and off-road vehicle trails crisscross through the surrounding area. The nearby Overland Emigrant Commemorative Trail is open to hiking and mountain biking.
Facilities
The campground offers four group sites, the largest of which are called the Woodsman and Prospector sites. They each can accommodate up to 50 people. The Rancher and Trapper sites can accommodate up to 25 people. Each group site has a central cooking and picnic area, equipped with a large campfire ring. Approximately six tables and four grills are provided at each site as well. Horseshoe pits are located at the Woodsman site.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the south side of Stampede Reservoir, which is located on the Little Truckee River, approximately eight miles above the confluence of the Little Truckee and Truckee Rivers. A forest of ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine and fir trees covers the area providing ample shade.
Nearby Attractions
Boca Reservoir is 10 minutes south of the campground, offering additional boating, water skiing, swimming and fishing opportunities. Truckee, 10 minutes south, offers all the amenities of a year round recreational mountain town including interstate highway connectivity, top notch restaurants, resorts and hotels, grocery stores, gas stations, shopping, and historic sites. Lake Tahoe is located 45 minutes south and offers excellent boating, kayaking, fishing, hiking and scenic driving opportunities, as well as dining, shopping and lodging options. Other recreational opportunities include Boca Townsite Interpretive Trail, Donner Camp Interpretive Trail, Overland Emigrant Commemorative Trial, Prosser Pits OHV area, and numerous hiking, mountain biking, and OHV trails.
What the agency tells you
Off-highway vehicles must be trailered to and from designated OHV routes. Recreational riding is not allowed in the campground.
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 Truckee Ranger District (530) 587-3558 (voice), (530) 587-6907 (TDD).
Everything else this campground posts · 5
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.
Firewood available from the campground host (subject to availability).
Tapper and Rancher include 8 vehicles with Reservation. Prospector and Woodsman include 15 vehicles with Reservation. All additional vehicles are $5/night. Please pay extra vehicle fee at the self-service fee tube located near campground if not paid online.
Campsite check-out time is 12:00pm. Check-in time is 2:00pm.
2 dogs maximum per site. Dogs shall always be kept on leash no longer than six feet or otherwise confined. Violation notices WILL be issued for non-compliance.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 4 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Paved pads
- 4 of 6
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 6 of 6 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 1035th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 2 days ago, 26 km away
- No change
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 4 of the 6 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.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
“All additional vehicles are $5/night.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 4 mapped sitesAll 6 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. 6 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Prospector | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 330 ft | 408 ft | $97–$201 |
| Rancher | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 300 ft | 417 ft | $97–$201 |
| S&P | Large Group S&P | type not stated | 45 ft | $97–$201 | ||
| S&P | Small Group, S&P | type not stated | 40 ft | $97–$201 | ||
| Trapper | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 300 ft | 474 ft | $97–$201 |
| Woodsman | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 363 ft | 434 ft | $97–$201 |
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
Logger CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 0.5 mi
Boyington MillTahoe National Forest · 2.7 mi
Boca SpringTahoe National Forest · 3.9 mi
Boca Rest CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 3.9 mi
Boca CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 5.3 mi
Sardine Peak LookoutTahoe National Forest · 6.1 miFrom Truckee, Calif., travel east on Highway 80 for 10 miles, to the Hirschdale Road exit. Follow Hirschdale Road/Stampede Dam Road north for eight miles, to the Stampede Reservoir. Take a left on Dog Valley Road to go over Stampede Dam. In a quarter mile the campground will be on the left.
Alternate Access: From Truckee, go north on Hwy 89 for 5 miles and take a right on Hobart Mills Road. Follow Hobart Mills Road to Dog Valley Road and take a left. In approximately 3 miles, pass the boat ramp road and Logger Campground Entrance, and in a quarter mile Emigrant Group will be on the left. 501 Stampede Dm Rd, Verdi, CA 96161
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Verdi, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 67°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 25°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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
Emigrant Group 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 →