Horse Campground
1Heads up1 fire 42 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $23From, per site
- Sites
- 9All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Horse Camp is located on the eastern shore of the Little Grass Valley Reservoir, giving visitors ample opportunity to fish, swim, boat and enjoy nature. The camp is one of eight campgrounds in the area, but the only one equipped to handle equestrian campers. It provides access to a beautiful, adjacent mountain lake and various hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails that meander through the scenic hills and valleys. Keep reading
Recreation
The 1,615-acre lake provides ample opportunities for visitors to fish, boat, swim and water ski. Anglers can expect a catch of a variety of trout and kokanee salmon, among other species of fish, however, fishing licenses are required to participate. The Lakeshore Trail, which loops 14.5 miles around the lake, is available for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The trail connects to the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, which stretches from 2,650 miles from Canada to Mexico, across three states. A variety of day hikes can be done on portions of the trail.
Facilities
The campground offers 10, single-family equestrian campsites, available for tent and RV camping. Eight of these sites are available to reserve online. Hookups are not available and the parking surfaces are gravel. Lantern posts and hitching posts are provided at each site. Each site is also equipped with a table and a campfire ring with a grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided. An on-site host may be available.
Natural Features
The campground is located in the Northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, in northern California, at an elevation of about 5,060 feet. It is on the eastern shore of the Little Grass Valley Reservoir, which was formed by flooding in the 1960s. The campground and the lake are surrounded by thick stands of pine and fir trees. There are several campgrounds located around the lake as well as cabins on the south side. The campground is also the center of a popular snowmobiling area during winter months.
Nearby Attractions
About 12 miles northeast of the lake at an elevation of 5,446 feet lies a small, natural lily pond, called Fowler Lake. This beautiful site is perfect for day hikes and picnics.
What the agency tells you
Drinking water is available
No hookups
Bears inhabit the area; store food and toiletries in appropriate containers; dispose of garbage securely in trash bins provided
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Click here for more information on the Plumas National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9 · 9 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 10 of 10 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 10 of 10 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $23 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
10 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 8 mapped sitesAll 10 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 9 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | $23 | ||
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 002 Host | host pad | $23 | ||
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 1107 ft | 264 ft | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 490 ft | 1,281 ft | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 490 ft | 1,395 ft | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 892 ft | 1,428 ftSouth Fork Feather River | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 892 ft | 895 ftSouth Fork Feather River | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 1236 ft | 815 ft | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | 662 ft | 837 ft | $23 |
| AREA HORSE CAMPGROUND | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | 662 ft | 273 ft | $23 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Red Feather California0.0 mi
Running Deer Campground0.0 miLittle Beaver Campground1.1 miLittle Grass Valley Recreation Area1.9 mi
Little Beaver A CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 2.0 mi
Wyandotte A CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 2.0 miFrom Oroville, California, travel east on Oro Dam Boulevard to Highway 162/Olive Highway. Continue on Highway 162/Olive Highway for 5 miles to Forbestown Road. Turn right and go 16 miles to La Porte Road. Turn left and travel 27 miles to La Porte, then 2 miles to signs for the recreation area. Turn right and continue just over 3 miles 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 Little Grass Valley, 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
Horse Campground 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 →