U.S. Forest Service · Shasta National Forest · CA

Gumboot Campground

1Heads up1 fire 28 mi away
Wildfire
Gall fire · 28 mi away · 1 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
The agency doesn’t say how you get a siteIts record carries no access type, so treat it as a place to phone before you drive.
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Drawn from the record · 6,050 ft · 41% tree cover · Gumboot Lake within reach · Bortle 2 sky
6,050 ftElevation
456 ftWater · Gumboot Lake
11.6 miSW of Mount Shasta, CA
41%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 165th darkest of 1,201 in CA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Description : The area on the north side of this shallow alpine lake is open for camping from June to October, depending on snow. There are at least 6 undeveloped sites (no tables) with user-created fire rings and a vault toilet. Bring your own water or purify the lake water. Suitable for tents and mid-size RV's or trailers. No fee. Usually opens around the end of May and closes due to snow by the first of November. Features : This is one of three alpine lakes on the district that can be reached by passenger car. The lake sits in a broad open bowl surrounded by grassy areas and mixed conifer forest. Keep reading

A smaller lake lies only a short distance to the west. Fishing and non-motorized boating are the most popular activities. Hikers can drive 2 miles from the lake to the Gumboot Trailhead to access the Pacific Crest Trail. Views of Mt. Shasta and the Trinity Alps abound. It is an easy 2 ½ miles (one-way) south on the PCT to view and explore the Seven Lakes Basin.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…with user-created fire rings and a vault toilet. Bring your own water or purify the lake water.…”
Drinking water
None, bring your own
“…fire rings and a vault toilet. Bring your own water or purify the lake water. Suitable for tents and…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake
Source: Stated in the agency description

Phone before you drive

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
A nightFreeNo camping feethe agency’s fee record
A weekendNothingDerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Camping feeFree
No Fee
The booking feerecreation.gov
We hold no recreation.gov booking record for this campground, so we can’t say whether a booking fee applies.
What a stay costs
A night, and a whole weekendDerivedNothing

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon70°Mostly Sunny
Tonight46°Mostly Clear
Saturday66°Sunny
Saturday Night42°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Castella, CA

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
Castle Crags B1,619 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Castle Crags A113 acres · 7 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Mt. Eddy7,232 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 5, 2026

Who answers for this land

Gumboot Campground is in California’s 1st congressional district. Whoever holds it votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. See how its representative votes on public lands →

Our roster still carries Doug LaMalfa for this district and the current federal record doesn’t list them as sitting, so we’re not naming a representative here until the two agree.

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Castella, CA, 10.7 mi WNW (a census designated place). Straight line.