1Heads up1 fire 35 mi away
Wildfire
Old fire · 35 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 22 opens May 22.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
A night
$36From, per site
Sites
30All of them booked ahead
Season
June 1 – September 30Open June 1 through September 30
4,930 ftElevation
450 ftWater · Union Valley Reservoir
10.6 miNE of Pollock Pines, CA
46%Tree cover
Bortle 3Night sky · 766th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Open June 1 through September 30Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices

In the agency’s own words

Fashoda Campground, located on a peninsula of the eastern side of Union Valley Reservoir, is an incredibly scenic place to camp. The lake area is a hub for activities like swimming, sailing, boating and fishing. Hiking and biking are also quite popular, and many campers make use of the Union Valley Bike Trail. Keep reading

Recreation

Head out on a sailboat or take the family water skiing. Union Valley offers a number of water activities. Anglers seek rainbow, brown and mackinaw trout and Kokanee salmon. The Union Valley Bike Trail stretches 4.8 miles with an easy climb of 300 feet. The trail connects campgrounds on the east side of the lake, starting from Wench Creek on down to Jones Fork Campground.

Facilities

All sites are walk-to tent camping sites. A parking lot is located above the campground. Perks of the campground include vault toilets, drinking water, showers and a picnic area. Campers can make use of the fee dump station at Yellowjacket or Sunset Campgrounds.

Natural Features

Union Valley Reservoir sits in the Crystal Basin, spanning 25,000 acres at an elevation of 5,100 feet. The area is part of the Eldorado National Forest, which is home to the famed gold mining territory of the 1800s. Remnants of the California Gold Rush days can be found throughout the region. Wildlife thrives in the Eldorado National Forest. Bring a camera and be sure to look for spotted owls, bobcats, mule deer and porcupines.

Nearby Attractions

Climb up Two Peaks and look down on a fantastic view of Union Valley and the Crystal Basin.

Charges & Cancellations

Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existing reservation. Cut-off windows can vary by location, but are typically 4 days before your arrival date. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (see Late Cancellation below). Late Cancellation: If you cancel your reservation too close to the start date, additional service fees may be withheld. Refunds : Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).

What the agency tells you

Rule

Bears frequent the area; use appropiate food containers

Rule

Forest Order No. 19-15-01: Prohibits camping for a combined total of no more than 14 days during a calendar year (January-December), forest-wide. Visitors may book campsites annually but the maximum stay may not exceed a total of 14 days each calendar year (January-December).

Rule

No hookups available (electric/water/sewer)

Everything else this campground posts · 9
Rule

Campground is 100% reservable

Rule

Tent Camping Only. Vehicles must be parked in the parking lot. There are no parking spurs at your site.

Rule

Please keep boats clean, drained and dry, to avoid transport or introduction of aquatic invasive species

Rule

Please Note: One vehicle per single site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee.

Rule

Fire Restrictions: 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; call (530) 644-6048 for local information and conditions.

Rule

Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).

Rule

Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (1PM) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.

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

Click here for more information on the Eldorado National Forest

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
30 · 30 tent-only
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
1
Pets
Allowed
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…Perks of the campground include vault toilets, drinking water, showers and a picnic area. Campers…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…of the campground include vault toilets, drinking water, showers and a picnic area. Campers can make use of…”
Dump station
Yes
Store
Nearby
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
Reservoir, Lake, Creek
Fishing
Hunting
Wildlife viewing
Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 25 km away
No change
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (25 km) · Oct 10, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 22, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 22, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay14 nights2-night minimum on weekendsthe facility record
A night$36plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$80DerivedFriday 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.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Sat, May 22 2027 is open for booking.

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 · 19

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night$36
Tent Only Nonelectric$36
These are next season’s rates, May 22, 2027 to Sep 6, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.
Recreation Fee: Recreation fees are the fees a visitor pays for things like overnight camping, a day-use pavilion, group facilities, a tour or a permit.
Recreation fees vary by location and/or activity.
Reservation Fee: A fee may be charged at the time a reservation is made to cover the cost of reservation services.
This fee is in addition to the Recreation Fee and is non-refundable.
Fees for camping, day use, group sites, cabins and lookouts: $8 if made on-line
If made through the call center$9
If made in-person .$3
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 a stay costs
One nightDerived$44
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$80

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $36 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

“- Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. - Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. - Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existi…” · this campground’s own 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 · 6

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

30 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 30 mapped sites
45 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least roomLoop BEAC 009 23 ftLoop BEAC 010 23 ftLoop PARK 002 33 ft

All 30 sites

30 of 30 sites located
Tent only30
SleepsUp 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. 30 of the 30 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

BEAC009tent only nonelectric23 ft431 ft$36
BEAC010tent only nonelectric23 ft418 ft$36
BEAC011tent only nonelectric52 ft462 ft$36
BEAC012tent only nonelectric58 ft404 ft$36
BEAC013tent only nonelectric43 ft340 ft$36
BEAC014tent only nonelectric43 ft318 ft$36
BEAC015tent only nonelectric42 ft268 ft$36
BEAC016tent only nonelectric42 ft282 ft$36
BEAC017tent only nonelectric48 ft368 ft$36
BEAC019tent only nonelectric55 ft314 ft$36
BEAC021tent only nonelectric60 ft255 ft$36
BEAC023tent only nonelectric60 ft213 ft$36
BEAC025tent only nonelectric36 ft167 ft$36
BEAC026tent only nonelectric36 ft199 ft$36
PARK001tent only nonelectric45 ft409 ft$36
PARK002tent only nonelectric33 ft415 ft$36
PARK003tent only nonelectric33 ft421 ft$36
PARK004tent only nonelectric54 ft433 ft$36
PARK005tent only nonelectric54 ft427 ft$36
PARK006tent only nonelectricyes63 ft416 ft$36
PARK007tent only nonelectric51 ft479 ft$36
PARK008tent only nonelectric51 ft486 ft$36
PARK018tent only nonelectric37 ft385 ft$36
PARK020tent only nonelectric37 ft360 ft$36
PARK022tent only nonelectric46 ft309 ft$36
PARK024tent only nonelectric46 ft292 ft$36
PARK027tent only nonelectric41 ft316 ft$36
PARK028tent only nonelectric59 ft289 ft$36
PARK029tent only nonelectric41 ft344 ft$36
PARK030tent only nonelectric45 ft432 ft$36

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 30 listed

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate38.86820, -120.39746
The phone831-245-6891
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon79°Sunny
Tonight47°Clear
Saturday73°Sunny
Saturday Night46°Clear

NWS forecast for Pollock Pines, CA

Typical weather

Typical June night 54°F, day 70°F.

90°32°20°

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.

Measured at: BLUE CANYON AP, CA (USW00023225), 33 miles away and 346 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Pyramid24,347 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Rubicon4,872 acres · 10 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Poison Hole2,627 acres · 10 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

Fashoda 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: The agency lists it out of season. The season it publishes is the bar below.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (25 km) · Oct 10, 2026
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.