Frenchman
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $38From, per site
- Sites
- 6438 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Frenchman Campground (5,700 feet) sites along the shores of its namesake lake, which boasts 21 miles of shoreline. The campground is situated at the southeastern peninsula of the lake. Situated on a pine covered hillside overlooking the lake, this is the place for campers to get in tune with their surroundings. The lake is at the interface between the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and high desert. Frenchman Lake and the surrounding Plumas National Forest together provide ample opportunity for recreation, relaxation and adventure. Keep reading
Recreation
During peak camping season, the campground offers a variety of outdoor experiences including hiking, biking, picnicking and hunting. The nearby lake provides ample opportunities for swimming, boating, waterskiing, jet skiing and fishing. Frenchman Lake Boat Launching Facility and a day use area are near the campground. Winter activities range from ice fishing to snowmobiling.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family campsites for tent and RV camping. Twelve of the campgrounds 38 campsites can be reserved during peak camping season. All other campsites may be taken on a 'First Come' basis. The campground remains open throughout the years. However, most winters include enough snow to keep the road closed. Each site is equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided.
Natural Features
As part of California's Plumas National Forest, the campground is located in northern California, between the rugged Sierra Nevada and the fringes of the Cascade ranges. The forest is home to hundreds of high alpine lakes and thousands of miles of clear-running streams. Pine trees provide moderate to good shade in most sites. A variety of wildlife make its home in the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 836-2575.
Nearby Attractions
Little Last Chance Canyon Scenic Area Sierra Valley - Largest valley in the Sierra nevada Stores and services in the towns of Chilcoot and Loyalton many forest roads to explore - take along a map, full tank and dependable vehicle
What the agency tells you
Generally, campsites will accommodate 2 vehicles. The first vehicle is included in the site fee, the second vehicle fee will be collected onsite at the daily rate posted on the fee sign.
Electric hookups are not available.
Click here to learn more about the Plumas National Forest.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
A variety of wildlife live in this area, including black bears. Before making a reservation, become aware of bear safety.
Please go to the following link for more information:http://www.centerforwildlifeinformation.org/BeBearAware/Hiking_and_Camping/hiking_and_camping.html
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 Bundles are for sale from the Campground Host. Wood collecting is allowed.
OHV vehicles are not allowed on campground, and other facility roads.
Campsites do not have bear resistant lockers.
America the Beautiful, Senior Passes, and Access Passes are accepted for single campsites only. They are not accepted for double or group campsites.
Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out is Noon
Campground Map
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 64
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 37 of 64
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided. Natural…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided. Natural Features As part of…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 620th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 38 of the 64 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $38 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
65 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 65 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 64 of the 65 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 64 of the 65 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.
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 001 | type not stated | 523 ft | 1,734 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 002 | type not stated | 491 ft | 1,792 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 003 | type not stated | 574 ft | 1,702 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 004 | type not stated | 541 ft | 1,767 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 005 | type not stated | 748 ft | 1,583 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 008 | type not stated | 787 ft | 1,700 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 009 | type not stated | 649 ft | 1,698 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 010 | type not stated | 745 ft | 1,782 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 011 | type not stated | 706 ft | 1,869 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 012 | type not stated | 697 ft | 1,692 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 015 | type not stated | 620 ft | 2,032 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 018 | type not stated | 548 ft | 2,319 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 019 | type not stated | 449 ft | 2,295 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 020 | type not stated | 475 ft | 2,458 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 021 | type not stated | 388 ft | 2,483 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 022 | type not stated | 339 ft | 2,475 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 025 | type not stated | 349 ft | 2,314 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 026 | type not stated | 300 ft | 2,208 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 027 | type not stated | 390 ft | 2,029 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 028 | type not stated | 474 ft | 1,953 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 029 | type not stated | 428 ft | 1,955 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 032 | type not stated | 523 ft | 1,808 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 033 | type not stated | 405 ft | 1,928 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 034 | type not stated | 513 ft | 1,820 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 035 | type not stated | 396 ft | 1,935 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | 038 | type not stated | 408 ft | 1,883 ft | $38 | ||
| AREA FRENCHMAN | XXX | unnamed record | 35 ft | $38 | |||
| FREN | 001 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 60 ft | 523 ft | 1,734 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 002 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 58 ft | 491 ft | 1,792 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 003 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 60 ft | 574 ft | 1,702 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 004 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 58 ft | 541 ft | 1,767 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 005 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 49 ft | 663 ft | 1,667 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 006 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 49 ft | 626 ft | 1,705 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 007 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 117 ft | 797 ft | 1,561 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 008 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 96 ft | 776 ft | 1,627 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 36 ft | 713 ft | 1,719 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 80 ft | 789 ft | 1,693 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 767 ft | 1,784 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 012 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 55 ft | 674 ft | 1,871 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 013 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 55 ft | 641 ft | 1,863 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 014 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 36 ft | 718 ft | 1,733 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 015 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 47 ft | 555 ft | 2,226 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 016 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 106 ft | 537 ft | 1,930 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 017 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 47 ft | 589 ft | 2,185 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 018 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 53 ft | 485 ft | 2,410 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 019 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 53 ft | 441 ft | 2,383 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 020 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 49 ft | 437 ft | 2,460 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 021 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 49 ft | 388 ft | 2,487 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 022 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 59 ft | 338 ft | 2,498 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 023 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 23 ft | 278 ft | 2,440 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 024 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 41 ft | 266 ft | 2,304 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 025 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 23 ft | 285 ft | 2,419 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 026 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 80 ft | 334 ft | 2,349 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 027 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 41 ft | 306 ft | 2,283 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 028 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 92 ft | 374 ft | 2,197 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 029 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 68 ft | 276 ft | 2,240 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 030 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 107 ft | 509 ft | 1,871 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 031 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 120 ft | 499 ft | 1,840 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 032 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 406 ft | 2,005 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 033 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 84 ft | 328 ft | 2,066 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 034 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 80 ft | 405 ft | 1,954 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 035 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 80 ft | 328 ft | 2,020 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 036 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 50 ft | 415 ft | 1,929 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 037 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 78 ft | 465 ft | 1,856 ft | $38 |
| FREN | 038 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 50 ft | 427 ft | 1,935 ft | $38 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It types it MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 65 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Spring CreekPlumas National Forest · 0.6 miBig Cove CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 0.8 miBig Cove OverflowPlumas National Forest · 0.8 mi
Big Cove (Plumas National Forest, CA)Plumas National Forest · 0.8 miCottonwood Springs CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 1.6 mi
ChilcootPlumas National Forest · 2.6 miFrom Reno, Nevada, travel north on Highway 395. Merge onto Highway 70 west and travel 5 miles to Chilcoot. Turn north on Highway 284 and continue 8 miles to Frenchman Lake, turn right, cross the dam, and travel a mile to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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 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
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
Frenchman 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 →