Paiute Campground
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 48All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Paiute Campground is 29 miles north of Loa, Utah, on Highway 25 adjacent to Johnson Reservoir at 8,800 feet elevation. With 48 pull-through camp sites, Piute campground is ideal for large groups or individual campers looking for a secluded experience. Paiute Campground is located near Johnson Valley Reservoir in the Fishlake National Forest of central Utah. Visitors enjoy boating, fishing and exploring local trails. Keep reading
Recreation
Fish Lake is Utah's largest natural mountain lake, covering 2,500 acres. It is famous for its 20-40 pound Mackinaw lake trout. Anglers alos enjoy fishing for rainbow trout and splake. Boating, canoeing, swimming, and scuba diving are popular activities. The 5-mile Pelican Canyon Trail begins near by. It leads through meadows and dense forests of spruce, pine and aspen as it climbs to the 11,633-foot Fish Lake Hightop. The popular Lakeshore National Recreation Trail exteds around the eastern side of the lake. Hikers are rewarded with stunning lake views after climbing 900 feet in elevation.
Facilities
All sites in the campgroung are single-family sites. Pit toilets and drinking water are provided during regular operating season. Roads and parking spurs are paved. Water is shut off during shoulder seasons. Campground acess is limited by snow.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 8,800 feet on a sagebrush-covered hillside on the valley floor, offering sweeping views of the Aspen, Pine and Cottonwood forest.
Nearby Attractions
Johnson Valley Reservoir is near by, offering fishing and boating opportunities. Visitors enjoy hiking the non-motorized trail from the campground to nearby Tasha Creek and beyond.
What the agency tells you
This is a high elevation campground, use caution, be prepared for inclement weather.
Street Legal vehicles are allowed for access and egress only. Non-street legal vehicles are allowed for access and egress only.
There are no electricity, water, or sewer site hookups at the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
This is a 'pack it in-pack it out' facility. Please bring your own garbage bags. Dumpsters are available within Fishlake Basin.
Camping is limited to 16 days.
Any vehicles or trailers that can not fit in the designated site must be relocated to another site purchased at full site price. Check area map for available free parking.
DON'T MOVE FIREWOOD: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org
Discharging a firearm of any kind is prohibited: this includes BB guns, slingshots, paintball guns etc. Take these activities outside of the campground please.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 48
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 48 of 48 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 48 of 48 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 69th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 13 km away
- Patchy color
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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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
48 sites
All 48 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. 48 of the 48 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| 001 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 002 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 004 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 005 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 006 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 007 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 008 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 010 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 011 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 012 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 013 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 014 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 015 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 016 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 017 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 018 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 019 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 020 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 021 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 022 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 023 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 024 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 025 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 026 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 027 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 028 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 029 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 030 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 031 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 032 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 033 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 034 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 035 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 036 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 037 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 038 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 039 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 040 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 041 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 042 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 043 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 044 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 045 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 046 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 047 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| 048 | standard nonelectric | $20 |
25 of 48 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Tasha EquestrianFishlake National Forest · 0.6 mi
Frying PanFishlake National Forest · 1.5 mi
Bowery CreekFishlake National Forest · 4.0 mi
Bowery Creek CampgroundFishlake National Forest · 4.9 mi
MackinawFishlake National Forest · 5.5 mi
Twin Creeks PicnicFishlake National Forest · 6.0 miPiute Campground is 29 miles north of Loa, Utah, on Highway 25 adjacent to Johnson Reservoir at 8,800 feet elevation. With 48 pull-through camp sites, Piute campground is ideal for large groups or individual campers looking for a secluded experience.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Fremont, UT
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
Paiute Campground is in Utah’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Celeste Maloy (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →