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

North Fork Campground (Plumas)

1Heads up1 fire 44 mi away
Wildfire
Moonshine fire · 44 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 23 opens May 23.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
A night
$35–$45Across the site types the agency prices
Sites
2221 on recreation.gov
2,420 ftElevation
236 ftWater · North Fork Feather River
14.3 miNW of Quincy, CA
44%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 316th darkest of 1,201 in CA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices

In the agency’s own words

North Fork Campground is located on Highway 70 just east of the Highway 89 intersection; just east of where Spanish Creek and Indian Creek merge together to create the east branch of the North Fork Feather River. Although the campground has been recently upgraded, it still holds the charm that it did in years past. Keep reading

Recreation

Anglers enjoy a healthy supply of rainbow trout in the nearby Feather River, which is within walking distance from the campground. The river and nearby North Fork are also popular for swimming and wading activities.

Facilities

North Fork Campground offers several single-family campsites that accommodate both tent and RV camping, however hookups are available. Each site is equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided. A full-service store, gas and phone service is available less than 10 miles away.

Natural Features

This campground is located in the Plumas National Forest, which is attractive to outdoor enthusiasts because of its many streams and lakes, beautiful deep canyons, rich mountain valleys, meadows, and lofty peaks. North Fork is in the Feather River Canyon, at an elevation of 2,000 feet.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Generally, campsites will accommodate 2 vehicles. The first vehicle is included in the site fee, the second vehicle fee will be collected onsite at the daily rate posted on the fee sign.  Caution! Bears frequent the area; food must be kept in appropriate containers.  Do not 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.  Firewood bundles may be purchased from a Campground Host.  A per Day, per Vehicle fee will be collected onsite for extra vehicles.  America the Beautiful, Senior Passes, and Access Passes are accepted for single campsites only. They are not accepted for double or group campsites.  Cell phone service is unreliable.  info@outdoorsinplumas.com Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out is Noon

Rule

Campground Map

Rule

There is heavy burn damage at this location.

Tents and rigs

Sites
22
Hookups
4 electric
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided. A…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are also provided. A full-service store, gas and…”

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

recreation.gov lists 21 of the 22 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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 23, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 23, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
A night$35–$45plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$78–$98DerivedFriday 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 Sun, May 23 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 · 13

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, per site$35–$45
Single Site-Non Electric$35
Single Site-Electric$45
These are next season’s rates, May 23, 2027 to Aug 31, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.
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$43–$53
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$78–$98

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $35–$45 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

22 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 21 mapped sites
62 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
82%of tent sites sit clear of electric or RV sites
Least roomNorth Fork 020 56 ftNorth Fork 021 56 ftNorth Fork 005 58 ft

All 22 sites

21 of 22 sites located
Standard17RV / electric4
SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 21 of the 22 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.

North Fork001standard electric93 ft32 ft$45
North Fork002standard electric87 ft85 ft$45
North Fork003standard electric87 ft92 ft$45
North Fork004standard nonelectric75 ft55 ft$35
North Fork005standard electric58 ft127 ft$45
North Fork006standard nonelectric58 ft75 ft$35
North Fork007standard nonelectric69 ft102 ft$35
North Fork008standard nonelectric58 ft93 ft$35
North Fork009standard nonelectric58 ft103 ft$35
North Fork010standard nonelectric83 ft94 ft$35
North Fork011standard nonelectric63 ft66 ft$35
North Fork012standard nonelectric63 ft128 ft$35
North Fork013standard nonelectric58 ft97 ft$35
North Fork014standard nonelectric58 ft46 ft$35
North Fork015standard nonelectric72 ft35 ft$35
North Fork016standard nonelectric72 ft46 ft$35
North Fork017standard nonelectric60 ft125 ft$35
North Fork018standard nonelectric60 ft145 ft$35
North Fork019standard nonelectric64 ft85 ft$35
North Fork020standard nonelectric56 ft84 ft$35
North Fork021standard nonelectric56 ft84 ft$35
North Fork022type not stated

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 phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight49°Clear
Friday82°Sunny
Friday Night48°Mostly Clear
Saturday78°Sunny

NWS forecast for Belden, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 46°F, day 74°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 34°F. Bring the bag rated for it.

100°30°

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.

Measured at: DE SABLA, CA (USC00042402), 24 miles away and 290 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Chips Creek12,940 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Bucks Lake680 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Chips Creek29,089 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

North Fork Campground (Plumas) 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: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice: the number below is the only way to be sure.
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.
Nearest place of any size: Belden, CA, 1.8 mi NNE (a census designated place). Straight line.