Gates Group
1Heads up1 fire 29 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- Sites
- 3All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 1 – September 30Open June 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gates Group Campground is located on the North Fork American River, at the north end of the French Meadows Reservoir in the Tahoe National Forest. It is 40 miles from the town of Foresthill. Visitors enjoy the area for its fishing, boating and trail opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The North Fork American River provides fishing and swimming. The reservoir can be accessed nearby. Popular activities include boating, canoeing, fishing and swimming. Two boat ramps are located within three miles of the campground. A variety of hiking and biking trails are found in the surrounding area, including some that provide access to the nearby Granite Chief Wilderness. 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 opportunity for hiker, horseback riders, dirt bikers, and for adventurous maintain bikers.
Facilities
The campground offers three group campsites. Two sites can accommodate up to 25 people and eight vehicles each. Another group site can accommodates up to 75 people and 25 vehicles. Picnic tables, campfire circles and grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
The campground is situated along the river, just north of French Meadows Reservoir. A coniferous forest covers the area. At an elevation of 5200 feet, summertime temperatures are warm in the day and cool at night.
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).
The campground is 40 miles from Foresthill and not on Lake Tahoe
This is bear country; all food must be stored in approved containers
Everything else this campground posts · 3
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 3 · 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…circles and grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground is situated along…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 15 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Fall color · reported 10 days ago, 19 km away
- Patchy color
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
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
3 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 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. 3 of the 3 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| ASPE | 01 | group standard nonelectric | 237 ft | 294 ft | $82–$165 |
| LODG | 02 | group standard nonelectric | 237 ft | 498 ft | $82–$165 |
| POND | 03 | group standard nonelectric | 485 ft | 406 ft | $82–$165 |
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
Ahart CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 0.3 mi
Coyote GroupTahoe National Forest · 0.4 mi
LewisTahoe National Forest · 0.8 miMumford Bar CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 1.3 mi
French MeadowsTahoe National Forest · 2.1 miPoppy CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 2.1 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 recommended for trucks with trailers, motorhomes/RV's or passenger vehicles that are not high clearance vehicles with four wheel drive.
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 June night 40°F, day 69°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical June night 40°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
Gates 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 →