Hutchins
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 3All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hutchins Group Campground is the perfect location for groups who want to explore the greater Bucks Lake area of the Plumas National Forest. This campground was severely impacted by the Dixie Fire in 2021. Timber salvage management has left the campground barren and hot so prepare by providing adequate shade for your stay. American Land & Leisure are the concession operators working for PG&E to service the campgrounds, boat ramps and day use areas that are owned by the USDA Forest Service. Keep reading
Recreation
The greater Bucks Lake area provides ample opportunities for fishing, boating, and canoeing. The boat ramp at Shady Point provides a boat dock to launch boats, showers, and day use picnicking. Hiking trails are only a short drive away with trailheads located in the Mill Creek Campground, Mill Creek Trailhead on the way to Bucks Summit, and at Bucks Summit where the PCT or Bucks Creek Loop trail are located.
Facilities
THIS CAMPGROUND CURRENTLY HAS NO WATER. Water is available at the nearby Sandy Point Day Use Area and Haskins Campground. The campground offers three large group campsites for tent and RV camping. Each site has a limit of eight vehicles and 24 people. Multiple tables and campfire rings with grills are provided, as well as vault toilets . A roving campground host is available intermittently to answer questions and provide additional information. There are several boat ramps available around the perimeter of the 1,820-acre lake, including the closest one to Hutchins, at Sandy Point. A convenience store with gas, phone and propane is located within five miles of the campground.
Natural Features
At a 5,000-foot elevation, Hutchins campground provides a great jumping off point to explore the greater Bucks Lake area. Hot days, followed by cooler nights, provide the perfect atmosphere for camping. This campground would be a great place for star gazers night owls who really appreciate a wide open sky for night viewing.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is located within walking distance of Bucks Lake. Bucks Lake Wilderness borders the lake and the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail System traverses the surrounding area. A wilderness permit is not required; however, it is advised that hikers and backpackers leave an itinerary at the trailhead or with campground host.
What the agency tells you
Campsites will accommodate 8 vehicles. These are included in the site fee; there will be an additional fee for more vehicles. American Land & Leisure are the concession operators working for PG&E to service the campgrounds, boat ramps and day use areas that are owned by the USDA Forest Service.
OHV use is not allowed in the campsite
Firewood Bundles are available for purchase from a Campground Host.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
recinfo@pge.com
Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out 11 a.m.
Campground Map
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 3 · 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 27 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with grills are provided, as well as vault toilets . A roving campground host is available…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Facilities THIS CAMPGROUND CURRENTLY HAS NO WATER.”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 400th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
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 Oct 1, 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.
| HUTC | A | group standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 151 ft | 270 ft | $50 |
| HUTC | B | group standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 151 ft | 277 ft | $50 |
| HUTC | C | group standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 196 ft | 416 ft | $50 |
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
Grizzly Creek Campground (CA)Plumas National Forest · 1.2 mi
Sundew Campground (CA)Plumas National Forest · 1.2 miLower Bucks CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 1.4 mi
Mill Creek Campground (Plumas)Plumas National Forest · 2.2 mi
Whitehorse CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 3.1 miBucks Lake is 10 miles west of Quincy on the Oro-Quincy Highway (Highway 162). From Oroville, travel east on Highway 162 for approximately 45 miles to Bucks Lake Dam Road. Turn left and continue 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 Bucks Lake, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 25°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
Hutchins 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 →