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

Sagehen Creek Campground

1Heads up1 fire 43 mi away
Wildfire
Old fire · 43 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
Drawn from the record · 6,480 ft · 39% tree cover · Sagehen Creek within reach · Bortle 4 sky
6,480 ftElevation
466 ftWater · Sagehen Creek
4.2 miNW of Truckee, CA
39%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 928th darkest of 1,201 in CA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Sagehen Creek Campground is a remote, rustic campground along Sagehen Creek approximately seven miles west of Highway 89 North. It is adjacent to a beautiful meadow with shade provided by lodgepole pine. Prepare for mosquitos in the early camping season. Not suitable for large RVs. Rough native surface roads in campground. Accessible vault toilet. Picnic tables and fire rings provided. Firewood not available for purchase. Elevation: 6500 feet. No water or trash services provided. Pack it in, pack it out No fee for staying in Sagehen Creek campground. No reservations – first come, first served. Keep reading

CAMPING IS LIMITED TO 14 DAYS PER YEAR. Directions: From Truckee take Highway 89 North for approximately eight miles to Sagehen Summit. Take a left onto 260 Road and go approximately 0.10 mile to four-way intersection. Continue on 260 Road (middle road, not to field station) for approximately 1.5 miles. Take a left onto 11 Road for approximately three miles. At bottom of paved hill, take a left at Sagehen Campground sign. Campground will be on the right in approximately 0.5 mile.

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…surface roads in campground. Accessible vault toilet. Picnic tables and fire rings provided. Firewood…”
Drinking water
None, bring your own
“…for purchase. Elevation: 6500 feet. No water or trash services provided. Pack it in, pack it out…”
Firewood
Sold here
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Creek, Meadow
Auto Touring
Biking
Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 32 km away
Patchy color
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (32 km) · Oct 6, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe agency’s record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 3

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4

rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight37°Clear
Saturday68°Sunny
Saturday Night34°Clear
Sunday64°Sunny

NWS forecast for Truckee, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 29°F, day 63°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 17°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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: DONNER MEM SP, CA (USC00042467), 8 miles away and 543 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Castle Peak14,974 acres · 7 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

Sagehen Creek 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 →

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.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (32 km) · Oct 6, 2026
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.