Goose Meadows
1Heads up1 fire 41 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $22From, per site
- Sites
- 2524 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 27 – October 11Open May 27 through October 11
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Goose Meadow Campground is located along the Truckee River adjacent to Highway 89, about half-way between Tahoe City and Truckee. Visitors enjoy the area for its fishing and hiking opportunities, as well as its proximity to Lake Tahoe and Olympic Valley. This facility is operated and maintained by Lake Tahoe Hospitality LLC for the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Fly-fishing for rainbow trout in the Truckee River is a popular activity enjoyed by visitors to the campground. Campers also enjoy swimming and tubing. The surrounding area offers hiking and biking trails, including the Western States Trail, Five Lakes Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family campsites, each equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the banks of the Truckee River. A scenic forest of lodgepole pine and fir trees covers the area. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (530) 606-3978 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Goose Meadow Campground is centrally located between the Prosser, Boca and Stampede reservoirs to the north, and Lake Tahoe and Olympic Valley to the south. A variety of outdoor recreational activities are available at each location. Truckee, 10 minutes north, offers all the amenities of a year round recreational mountain town including interstate highway connectivity, top notch restaurants, resorts and hotels, grocery stores, gas stations, shopping, and historic sites. Lake Tahoe is located 30 minutes south and offers excellent boating, kayaking, fishing, hiking and scenic driving opportunities, as well as dining, shopping and lodging options. Other recreational opportunities include Donner Camp Interpretive Trail, Overland Emigrant Commemorative Trail, Stampede Reservoir Recreation Area, Prosser Pits OHV area, and numerous hiking, mountain biking, and OHV trails.
What the agency tells you
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers. Bear lockers dimensions are 48' wide x 28' deep x 35' tall. Please plan food storage containers accordingly.
Off-highway vehicles must be trailered to and from designated OHV routes. Recreational riding is not allowed in the campground
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 8
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 Truckee Ranger District (530) 587-3558 (voice), (530) 587-6907 (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.
Firewood available from the campground host (subject to availability).
Limited turnaround space restricts RVs longer than 30 feet.
One vehicle included with reservation. Additional vehicle fee cost is $10/each per night for all vehicles. All operable, highway legal vehicles must pay extra vehicle fee, excluding the single vehicle included with the reservation. Please pay extra vehicle fee at the self-serve fee tube located near campground entrance if not paid online. Overflow parking is extremely limited so please plan to have all vehicles fit within provided driveway.
Campsite check-out time is 12:00pm. Check-in time is 2:00pm.
6 people and 2 dogs maximum per site. Dogs shall always be kept on leash no longer than six feet or otherwise confined. Violation notices WILL be issued for non-compliance.
Modifications for this campground must be made PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 25 · 4 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…ring with grill. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features The campground is…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water access
- Night sky · 957th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 12 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 24 of the 25 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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Additional vehicle fee cost is $10/each per night for all vehicles.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $22 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 25 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. 25 of the 25 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| NRTH | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 76 ft | 372 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| NRTH | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 419 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 47 ft | 357 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 381 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 47 ft | 318 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 331 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 279 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 100 ft | 178 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 91 ft | 91 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 72 ft | 112 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 176 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 229 ft | $22 |
| NRTH | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 289 ft | $22 |
| S&P | Single S&P | type not stated | 30 ft | $22 | ||
| SOTH | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 120 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 39 ft | 145 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 39 ft | 163 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 017 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 82 ft | 146 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 018 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 98 ft | 114 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 93 ft | 115 ft | $22 |
| SOTH | 020 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 35 ft | 148 ft | $22 |
| SOTH | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 35 ft | 174 ft | $22 |
| SOTH | 022 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 88 ft | 232 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 220 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
| SOTH | 024 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 59 ft | 194 ftDeep Creek | $22 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Silver Creek-TruckeeTahoe National Forest · 2.4 mi
Granite Flat (California)Tahoe National Forest · 2.9 mi
Alpine Meadow Campground6.4 mi
William Kent CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 8.6 mi
Prosser FamilyTahoe National Forest · 8.7 mi
Prosser Ranch GroupTahoe National Forest · 8.8 miFrom Truckee, Calif., take Highway 89 south for 5 miles to the campground. 8100 River Road, Truckee, CA 96161
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Truckee, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 63°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 29°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 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
Goose 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 →