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

Kaspian Campground

1Heads up1 fire 43 mi away
Wildfire
Old fire · 43 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
ReservableOut of season, no booking; December 1 opens June 1.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
A night
$30From, per site
Sites
9All of them booked ahead
Season
May 1 – October 31Open May 1 through October 31
6,250 ftElevation
268 ftWater · Lake Tahoe
1 miSE of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
44%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 909th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Open May 1 through October 31Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices

In the agency’s own words

Kaspian Campground is located in a mature forest of pine trees overlooking the beautiful Lake Tahoe. Campers will be nestled in a sparse forest of pine trees and evergreen shrubs, just minutes from the bright blue water of Tahoe. The lake and its sandy beaches provides ample recreation opportunities. Keep reading

Recreation

Kaspian Campground is ideal for visitors planning a full day of biking around Lake Tahoe. Bike trails that traverse the western shores of the lake begin near the campground. Visitors enjoy water sports on the lake and relaxing on its sandy beaches.

Facilities

The campground offers multiple single-family sites for tent-only camping. Sites are equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Accessible flush toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided.

Natural Features

The campground is situated in a former picnic area, across the street from the lake. Campsites are spaced for privacy and surrounded by tall ponderosa pine and white fir trees. Some sites offer spectacular views of Lake Tahoe through the trees.

Nearby Attractions

Kaspian Campground is less than 10 miles from the popular Meeks Bay. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (530) 541-1537 for general information.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Please Note: One vehicle per single site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicles will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.

Rule

Bears frequent the area; use appropriate food containers

Rule

Forest Order No. 19-15-01: Prohibits camping for a combined total of no more than 14 days during a calendar year (January-December), forest-wide. Visitors may book campsites annually but the maximum stay may not exceed a total of 14 days each calendar year (January-December).

Everything else this campground posts · 8
Rule

Please keep boats clean, drained and dry, to avoid transport or introduction of aquatic invasive species

Rule

All campers must register with camp host

Rule

Off-road vehicles are prohibited in the campground

Rule

Limit of two pets per site; pets are not allowed on the beaches

Rule

Chainsaw use and hunting are prohibited in the area

Rule

Fire Restrictions: 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 click here Fire Restriction

Rule

Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
9 · 9 walk-in
Hookups
None
Paved pads
All
Accessible sites
3
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Flush Toilets
“…campfire rings with grills. Accessible flush toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided.…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…with grills. Accessible flush toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. Natural Features…”
Camp host
On site
recreation.gov lists “Host”
Stay limit
14 nights
recreation.gov facility rule maxStay

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, Beach, Coast
Biking
Boating
Fishing
Hiking
Ranger programs
Swimming
Water sports
Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 0.8 km away
Patchy color
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (0.8 km) · Oct 8, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On December 1, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through June 1, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay14 nightsthe facility record
A night$30plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$68DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Tue, Jun 1 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night$30
Walk To$30
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jun 1, 2026 to Oct 12, 2026. Every site here is walked, hiked or boated into; there’s no drive-in rate to quote.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$38
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$68

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

9 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 9 mapped sites
83 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least room002 41 ft003 41 ft001 53 ft

All 9 sites

9 of 9 sites located
Walk, hike or boat in9
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 9 of the 9 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.

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 9 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND001walk toyes53 ft218 ft110 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND002walk toyes41 ft204 ft162 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND003walk toyes41 ft189 ft203 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND004walk to144 ft515 ft283 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND005walk to144 ft658 ft418 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND006walk to83 ft822 ft581 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND007walk to83 ft810 ft581 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND008walk to151 ft665 ft448 ft$30
AREA KASPIAN CAMPGROUND009walk to152 ft514 ft298 ft$30

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today67°Sunny
Tonight39°Clear
Sunday63°Sunny
Sunday Night40°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.

Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 33°F. Bring the bag rated for it.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: TAHOE CITY, CA (USC00048758), 4 miles away and at about the same elevation

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Granite Chief N593 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Granite Chief S567 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Fawn Lake1,153 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Kevin Kiley, official portrait

Kaspian 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: The agency lists it open right now. Its own recreation database, though, flags it not open with no reason or date; the flag is named under How we know all this.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (0.8 km) · Oct 8, 2026
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.