(Lake Alpine) Lodgepole Campground
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $32From, per site
- Sites
- 2019 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lodgepole Group Campground is located just two miles west of Lake Alpine in northern California. The campground affords breathtaking views of the surrounding Stanislaus National Forest. Campground may open earlier and close later on a first come first serve basis as weather (snow level) allows. This information will be posted on this page as soon as it becomes available. The current dates for reservations have historically allowed for comfortable camping, but please take into consideration the high alpine location when making a reservation. It is possible to have snow, rain, mud, and overall cold/wet conditions any time of year. Keep reading
Recreation
Lake Alpine provides a wide variety of recreation opportunities. Hike, bike, or ride a horse on Bear Valley, an accessible trail that winds along the lakeshore to the community of Bear Valley. It connects with the historic Emigrant Trail, the route pioneers once traveled via covered wagon to settle in California. Interpretive programs are offered by Forest Service rangers during the summer months.
Facilities
Campsites with room for up to 6 people, 3 tents, and 2 vehicles per campsite. Picnic tables, campfire rings, toilets are available. Hot showers and laundromat available at nearby Lake Alpine Lodge. No electricity or hook-ups. Pets are welcome. Firewood, camping and fishing supplies, food, and apparel is available in the general store at Lake Alpine Lodge.
Natural Features
Lodgepole Campground is situated on a large, flat plain, not far from a creek. It sits at an elevation of 7,290 feet, within the Stanislaus National Forest in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains. The forest lies between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite and boasts gorgeous views of snow-capped peaks and California's Great Central Valley. A wide variety of wildlife makes its home in the area, including marmots, squirrels, coyotes, deer and many birds.
Nearby Attractions
A restaurant, bar, general store, and boat rentals can be found at nearby Lake Alpine Lodge. The immediate area is suited for forest and wilderness recreation. A short car ride away is Big Trees State Park, Grover Hot Springs, Mercer Caverns, Mountain Adventure Seminars, and the wine country of Calaveras County.
What the agency tells you
This high alpine campground is very old, and was not designed or built with modern RVs in mind. It contains narrow roads, tight turns, and many, many inconvenient boulders and trees. RVs are allowed in every site if they fit, but this campground is a far cry from an RV park. The only surefire way to know if you can comfortably fit your RV in a specific site is to take an exploratory trip to scout it out for yourself.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from the area after eating
Campsites must be occupied during the dates of reservation. Guests who do not arrive by 2PM on the day following their scheduled date of arrival will be considered a No-Show and their reservation will automatically be cancelled.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Dogs must remain on leash and under control at all times. Dogs may not be left in camp unattended, and all leads must be 6 feet or less in length. USFS guidelines allow a maximum of two dogs per campsite
Generator use is limited to 2 hours per day, in between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm.
One pump is available for water - please bring your own containers
On-site payment is cash only. Checks are not accepted.
No electric hookups at this facility
Click here for more information on Stanislaus 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
- 20 · 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 14 of 20 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “Picnic tables, campfire rings, toilets are available.”
- Store
- Nearby
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, Creek
- Backpacking
- Boating
- Climbing
- Disc Golf
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Kayaking
- Motor Boat
- Mountain Climbing
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Off Highway Vehicle Trails
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Paddle Boating
- Night sky · 500th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 32 km away
- Peak color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 20 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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $32 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
20 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 20 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. 19 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 1 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 69 ft | 689 ft | $32 |
| A | 10 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 96 ft | 639 ft | $32 |
| A | 11 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 77 ft | 614 ft | $32 |
| A | 12 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 77 ft | 689 ft | $32 |
| A | 13 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 57 ft | 664 ft | $32 |
| A | 14 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 57 ft | 695 ft | $32 |
| A | 15 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 90 ft | 773 ft | $32 |
| A | 16 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 67 ft | 747 ft | $32 |
| A | 17 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 99 ft | 847 ft | $32 |
| A | 18 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 64 ft | 904 ft | $32 |
| A | 19 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 64 ft | 965 ft | $32 |
| A | 2 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 633 ft | $32 |
| A | 20 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 97 ft | 1,061 ft | $32 |
| A | 3 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 121 ft | 527 ft | $32 |
| A | 6 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 86 ft | 569 ft | $32 |
| A | 7 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 86 ft | 539 ft | $32 |
| A | 8 | type not stated | 28 ft | 745 ft | ||
| A | 9 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 172 ft | 749 ft | $32 |
| LODB | B001 | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 117 ft | 556 ft | $120 |
| LODG | A001 | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 151 ft | 452 ft | $120 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
(Lake Alpine) Silver Tip CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 0.5 mi
(Lake Alpine) West ShoreStanislaus National Forest · 0.9 mi
(Lake Alpine) BackpackersStanislaus National Forest · 1.1 mi
(Lake Alpine) Pine MartenStanislaus National Forest · 1.9 miBackpacker's Walk-In CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 2.0 mi
(Lake Alpine) Silver Valley CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 2.1 miFrom Angel Camp, drive 50 miles east on Highway 4.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bear Valley, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 23°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
(Lake Alpine) Lodgepole 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 →