Lost Claim
1Heads up1 fire 30 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1 – September 30Open May 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lost Claim attracts families and friends with its convenient location, just 15 miles from the northwest Yosemite National Park boundary in northern California. Deemed as an ideal base camp, visitors can explore not only Yosemite, but also the fantastic wilderness areas of the Stanislaus National Forest. Pets are welcome, but must be compliant with Tuolumne County leash laws. Keep reading
Recreation
Hike the Little Golden Forest Trail, a half-mile interpretive loop with the option for a longer two-mile loop. A short drive takes visitors to the Tuolumne River for wading and fishing.
Facilities
The 10 camping sites are all suited for tents. Sites 1, 7, and 8 would also accommodate tent trailers. The roads and spurs are native surface or gravel. Each site has a picnic table, food storage box and campfire ring. Drinking water and vault toilets are available.
Natural Features
At 3,100 feet in elevation, the tranquil campground sits in a mixed conifer forest with ample shade at each campsite. Nearby is the Tuolumne River, which flows for 150 miles from the central Sierra Nevadas to the San Joaquin River. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
Nearby Attractions
Take a scenic drive through Yosemite and explore its legendary waterfalls. Enjoy world class fishing on the Tuolumne River or at one of the many lakes in this western Sierra Nevada location. Go hiking on one of the many nearby trails. The town of Groveland boasts many shopping and tourist activities; check with the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau for more information.
What the agency tells you
This campground has first-come, first-served single family campsites. These sites and walk-ins are cash or check only (no credit cards accepted).
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.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.Stanislaus.Groveland@AmericanLL.com
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10 · 7 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 15 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring. Drinking water and vault toilets are available. Natural Features At 3,100 feet in…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…food storage box and campfire ring. Drinking water and vault toilets are available. Natural Features…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Stargazing
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 686th 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 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 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 10 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. 10 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.
| LOST CLAIM | 01 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 197 ft | 3,547 ft | $25 |
| LOST CLAIM | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 127 ft | 3,287 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 03 | tent only nonelectric | 82 ft | 3,324 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 04 | tent only nonelectric | 82 ft | 3,406 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 98 ft | 3,401 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 06 | tent only nonelectric | 107 ft | 3,495 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 07 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 92 ft | 3,714 ft | $25 |
| LOST CLAIM | 08 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 92 ft | 3,793 ft | $25 |
| LOST CLAIM | 09 | tent only nonelectric | 88 ft | 3,860 ft | $25 | |
| LOST CLAIM | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 88 ft | 3,935 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sweetwater (Stanislaus National Forest)Stanislaus National Forest · 2.4 mi
Sweetwater CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 2.4 mi
Pines CampgroundStanislaus National Forest · 2.5 mi
Pines StanislausStanislaus National Forest · 2.5 miFrom Groveland, Take State Highway 120 east for 12 miles. The campground is just east of the Groveland Ranger District Office.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Buck Meadows, CA
Typical weather
Typical May night 44°F, day 73°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 44°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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.
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
Lost Claim is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →