RED FIR
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 18 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Situated on the north side of the Loon Lake Reservoir, Red Fir Group Campground offers a primitive group camping experience in the lush Eldorado National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
The nearby lake provides fishing, swimming and boating, and the campground is just a short walk across the road to the water's edge. Visitors also enjoy off-road vehicle and motorcycle riding on the popular Rubicon Jeep trail. Hiking and wilderness backpacking are popular activities. Day permits are available at the nearby Loon Lake trailhead and overnight permits are available at the Eldorado Information Center.
Facilities
The campground offers tent-only campsites, accommodating a group of up to 25 guests. A group kitchen area is equipped with multiple tables, a campfire circle and grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
The campground is part of the Crystal Basin Recreation Area, situated at a 6,400-foot elevation and nestled in a forest of tall pine trees.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is not far from the Desolation Wilderness.
Charges & Cancellations
Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existing reservation. Cut-off windows can vary by location, but are typically 4 days before your arrival date. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (see Late Cancellation below). Late Cancellation: If you cancel your reservation too close to the start date, additional service fees may be withheld. Refunds : Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
What the agency tells you
Travel Notice: Starting May 2024 and continuing through September 2024, Ice House Road will be undergoing repairs. There will be traffic delays so plan your camping trip accordingly.
RVs are not permitted
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
Everything else this campground posts · 5
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).
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. Call (530) 644-6048 for local information and conditions.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
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.
Click here for more information on Eldorado National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a campfire circle and grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features The campground is…”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 18 km away
- No change
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 · 19
What you actually pay
“- Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. - Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. - Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existi…” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| LOON | 1 | group tent only area nonelectric | yes | 616 ft | 66 ft | $125 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Northshore Campground - Loon Lake (CA)Eldorado National Forest · 0.4 miWentworth Springs CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 0.9 miPleasant CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 1.4 miLoon Lake Group CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 1.5 miTake Highway 50 east of Placerville for approximately 21 miles to Ice House Road. At the river take a left and go north 28 miles, then veer right at the fork in the road and continue 9 miles to Red Fir Group campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Tahoma, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°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
RED FIR 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 →