Fiddle Creek
1Heads up1 fire 27 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 15All of them booked ahead
- Season
- April 17 – October 15Open April 17 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Fiddle Creek Campground is located alongside the North Yuba River, just off Highway 49, about 12 miles from Downieville. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, hunting, fishing and mountain biking. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
The North Yuba River offers swimming, wading and rainbow trout fishing. Seasonal rafting, kayaking and tubing are popular water activities. Hiking and hunting are available in the surrounding area. A network of trails crisscrosses the surrounding area. A footbridge accessing the North Yuba Trail is located at nearby Rocky Rest Campground.
Facilities
The campground offers several single-family sites, all of which are designated for tent camping only. Each site is equipped with a picnic table, campfire ring and bearproof food locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. While located close to the parking areas, campsites cannot be directly accessed by motor vehicles.
Natural Features
The campground stretches along the north bank of the North Yuba River. Stands of oak, maple, locust and pine trees covers the area providing ample shade at this location. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-4531.
What the agency tells you
Due to limited parking only one vehicle per site is allowed. Outside campground parking for extra vehicles is very limited; please carpool.
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
Utility hookups and showers are not available
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
- 15 · 15 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 15 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campfire ring and bearproof food locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. While located…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…bearproof food locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. While located close to the parking…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Water sports
- Night sky · 586th 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 15 mapped sitesAll 15 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. 15 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 75 ft | 142 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 70 ft | 154 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 70 ft | 172 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 77 ft | 184 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 44 ft | 192 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 44 ft | 150 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 42 ft | 189 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 42 ft | 148 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 56 ft | 157 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 56 ft | 184 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 46 ft | 190 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 43 ft | 193 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 43 ft | 189 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 45 ft | 227 ft | $24 |
| AREA FIDDLE CREEK | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 70 ft | 189 ft | $24 |
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
CAL-IDATahoe National Forest · 0.3 mi
CarltonTahoe National Forest · 0.4 mi
Indian ValleyTahoe National Forest · 0.6 mi
Rocky RestTahoe National Forest · 0.9 mi
RamshornTahoe National Forest · 4.6 miStrawberry CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 6.7 miFrom Downieville, travel south on Highway 49 for about 12 miles. The campground is on the left side of the highway.
From Nevada City, travel north on Highway 49 for 30 miles. The campground is on the right side of the higway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Camptonville, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 72°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Fiddle Creek 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 →