French Meadows
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 15 mi
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:51 UTC
- A night
- $24When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 63In the agency’s record
- Season
- June 1 – October 31Open June 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
French Meadows Campground is located along the shores French Meadows Reservoir, about 40 miles from the town of Foresthill. Visitors enjoy the area for its fishing, boating and trail opportunities. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Popular activities on the reservoir include boating, canoeing, fishing and swimming. A boat ramp is located adjacent to the campground. The North Fork American River can be accessed nearby and provides additional opportunities for fishing and swimming. A variety of hiking and biking trails are found in the surrounding area, including some that provide access to the nearby Granite Chief Wilderness and The Western States Trail. Just down the road is the Granite Chief Wilderness which provides amazing hiking opportunities for an adventurous party to explore historic aspen trees and secluded mountain passes and trails. The Western States Trail provides great opporunity for hiking, horse back riding, dirt biking, and for adventurous mountain bikers.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family campsites, a few of which are wheel chair accessible. Each site is equipped with a picnic table, fire ring and food locker. Flush and vault toilets as well as drinking water are provided. Roads and parking spurs are paved. Several campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Natural Features
The campground sits on the southern shore of French Meadows Reservoir, in a pine/fir forest. Summer days can be hot, but evenings are usually cool.
What the agency tells you
Water systems are on and water is potable. Water Systems at remote recreation sites can be unreliable, it is highly recommended to bring additional drinking water for your stay. If water system fails the closest services are in Foresthill, 40 miles away. 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 American River Ranger District (530) 367-2224 (voice), (530) 367-2226 (TDD).
Campground is 40 miles from Foresthill and not on Lake Tahoe
This is bear country; food must be stored in approved containers
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Last minute gas, ice and supplies should be purchased at Foresthill
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally in Foresthill or by using down wood debris from the area that fit within the fire ring. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
One vehicle (or two motorcycles) 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.
Large single unit RVs are not suitable for the campground roads. Even though a site might have a 40 foot parking space, a 40 foot long RV can’t navigate through the campground. Also please remember that site parking length includes trailer and vehicle.
There is no cell phone service in this area!
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 63
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 85 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 7
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…fire ring and food locker. Flush and vault toilets as well as drinking water are provided. Roads and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Flush and vault toilets as well as drinking water are provided. Roads and parking spurs are paved.…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 15 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River, Meadow
- Auto Touring
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Paddling
- Swimming
- Night sky · 755th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 10 days ago, 21 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:51 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
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
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
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at French Meadows closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Ahart CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 2.4 mi · 12 sites
- Big Meadows CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 2.7 mi · walk-up
- Hell Hole CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 3.0 mi · walk-up
- Upper Hole CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 4.2 mi · walk-up
recreation.gov availability, read 15:51 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
63 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 61 mapped sitesAll 63 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. 61 of the 63 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 001 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 111 ft | 653 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 002 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 101 ft | 545 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 003 | type not stated | 41 ft | 650 ft | |||
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 004 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | yes | 76 ft | 554 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 005 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 76 ft | 507 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 006 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 84 ft | 403 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 007 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 71 ft | 330 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 008 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 71 ft | 275 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 009 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 74 ft | 324 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 010 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 76 ft | 218 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 011 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 76 ft | 280 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 012 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 75 ft | 285 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 013 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 75 ft | 210 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 014 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 104 ft | 289 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 015 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 86 ft | 256 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 016 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | yes | 86 ft | 175 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 017 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 95 ft | 207 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 018 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 42 ft | 187 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 019 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 42 ft | 181 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 020 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 67 ft | 199 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 67 ft | 283 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 022 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 312 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 023 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 61 ft | 369 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 024 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 342 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 025 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 118 ft | 470 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 026 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 102 ft | 456 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 027 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 96 ft | 563 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 028 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 96 ft | 510 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 029 | type not stated | 54 ft | 600 ft | |||
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 030 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 588 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 031 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 66 ft | 526 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 032 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 143 ft | 362 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 033 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 143 ft | 265 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 034 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 67 ft | 208 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 035 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 67 ft | 272 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 036 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 56 ft | 215 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 037 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 77 ft | 291 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 038 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | yes | 56 ft | 207 ft | $24 |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 039 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 46 ft | 288 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 040 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 58 ft | 199 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 041 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 46 ft | 270 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 042 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 184 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 043 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 243 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 044 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 76 ft | 223 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 045 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 110 ft | 129 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 046 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 70 ft | 61 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 047 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 70 ft | 81 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 048 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 81 ft | 92 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 049 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 81 ft | 169 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 050 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 92 ft | 163 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 051 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 105 ft | 295 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 052 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 80 ft | 327 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 053 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 384 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 054 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 83 ft | 380 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 055 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 81 ft | 463 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 056 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 80 ft | 385 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 057 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 80 ft | 465 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 058 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 76 ft | 391 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 059 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 76 ft | 464 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 060 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 58 ft | 504 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 061 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 58 ft | 560 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 062 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 86 ft | 644 ft | $24 | |
| AREA FRENCH MEADOWS | 063 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 179 ft | 639 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.
25 of 63 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
LewisTahoe National Forest · 1.3 mi
Coyote GroupTahoe National Forest · 1.7 mi
Gates GroupTahoe National Forest · 2.1 mi
Ahart CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 2.4 miHigh clearance vehicles may take Foresthill Rd to the 43 Rd (Robinson Flat Rd) to Mosquito Ridge Rd, snow permitting. Access from Soda Springs and the 43 Rd is not recommoned to trucks with trailers, motorhomes/RV's or passenger vehicles that are not high clearance vehicle with four wheel drive.
The campground is on the south shore.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 33°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
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
French Meadows 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 →