Sardine Lake
1Heads up1 fire 39 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $24–$48Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2726 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sardine Lake Campground is located in the North Yuba River area, near the beautiful Sardine Lakes. Visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational activities in the area, including hiking, hunting, fishing, canoeing and gold panning. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating, fishing and swimming are available at nearby Sardine Lakes and Sand Pond. Sardine Lakes Resort offers boat rentals, lodging, and a restaurant. A large network of trails is available in the area, including Deer Lake and Tamarack Lakes Trails and the Pacific Crest Trail.
Facilities
The campground offers several single-family campsites and one double site. Each site is equipped with a picnic table, campfire ring, and a food storage locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
The campground stretches along a wet meadow at the base of the scenic Sierra Buttes. A forest of lodgepole pine offers partial shade. Beautiful high mountain lakes and rugged peaks can be found throughout the surrounding area.
Nearby Attractions
Lakes Basin offers many opportunities for boating, fishing and hiking. Boating, fishing and swimming are available at nearby Sardine Lakes, less than a mile to the west. Sardine Lakes Resort offers boat rentals. Anglers will find rainbow and brook trout in many of the lakes, streams, and rivers throughout the basin. A more developed boat ramp is located at Gold Lake and accomodates launching of larger boats. Over 30 miles of maintained trails for hiking, mountain biking, and motorcycle singletrack branch out across the area and the Pacific Crest Trail can be accessed at a few spots in the Lakes Basin area. The historic towns of Sierra City and Downieville offer historic and cultural attractions, restaurants, shops, churches, and vistor information. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (530) 265-4531.
Charges & Cancellations
No Show Policy A no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date (or for day-use facilities, by check-in time the day of arrival). * No-show customers are only recorded at staffed facilities. At most remote facilities, all customers are noted as automatically checked-in on the date of arrival. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold group day-use facilities until check-in time on the arrival date. There is no change fee if a customer extends or shortens a reservation if the change includes dates from the original reservation. If they choose to depart early, they may forfeit some or all of the recreation fees. There is no change fee if the customer changes campsites that are the same price and on the same reservation dates in the same campground. If the campsite the customer is changing to has a price difference, the customer will be responsible for any additional fees or be provided with a refund, based on the price difference. Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility. We recommend customers contact the facility if they are en route to their reservation but cannot make it by the check-in date. In these cases, no refund will be issued, but the facility can ensure that a "no-show" fee is not assessed.
What the agency tells you
In accordance with standard industry practices, will be assessing a $5 additional vehicle fee on the 'second vehicle' in each single family campsite, and on the 'third and fourth vehicle' in any double family campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the first vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the first two are considered to be one vehicle and the third and fourth are also considered to be one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles.
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
Utility hookups and showers are not available
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
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. For current fire conditions or weather closures contact the Yuba River Ranger District (530) 288-3231(voice), (530) 288-3656 (TDD).
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.
No Show Policy A no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date (or for day-use facilities, by check-in time the day of arrival). * No-show customers are only recorded at staffed facilities. At most remote facilities, all customers are noted as automatically checked-in on the date of arrival. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. * It is recommended that staffed facilities hold group day-use facilities until check-in time on the arrival date. There is no change fee if a customer extends or shortens a reservation if the change includes dates from the original reservation. If they choose to depart early, they may forfeit some or all of the recreation fees. There is no change fee if the customer changes campsites that are the same price and on the same reservation dates in the same campground. If the campsite the customer is changing to has a price difference, the customer will be responsible for any additional fees or be provided with a refund, based on the price difference. Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility. We recommend customers contact the facility if they are en route to their reservation but cannot make it by the check-in date. In these cases, no refund will be issued, but the facility can ensure that a "no-show" fee is not assessed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 48 ft
- Paved pads
- 1 of 27
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…ring, and a food storage locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…a food storage locker. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features The campground…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Backpacking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hotel/Lodge/Resort Privately Owned
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Scenic drives
- Swimming
- Night sky · 510th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 26 of the 27 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.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
“In accordance with standard industry practices, will be assessing a $5 additional vehicle fee on the 'second vehicle' in each single family campsite, and on the 'third and fourth vehicle' in any double family campsite…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $24–$48 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.
“Where recorded, no-show customers are assessed a $20.00 no-show fee and forfeit the first night's recreation fee for a campsite or forfeit the entire day-use recreation fee for a day-use facility.” · this campground’s own no-show 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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
27 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 26 mapped sitesAll 27 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 27 of the 27 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. 26 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 58 ft | 270 ft | 1,306 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 43 ft | 245 ft | 1,252 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 49 ft | 243 ft | 1,175 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 004 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 59 ft | 208 ft | 1,076 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 005 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 79 ft | 266 ft | 1,037 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 59 ft | 154 ft | 1,088 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 49 ft | 204 ft | 1,138 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 43 ft | 205 ft | 1,237 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 51 ft | 252 ft | 1,363 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 36 ft | 276 ft | 1,464 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 51 ft | 316 ft | 1,603 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 80 ft | 317 ft | 1,748 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 80 ft | 247 ft | 1,780 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 014 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 84 ft | 242 ft | 1,864 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 015 | type not stated | 43 ft | 308 ft | 1,907 ft | ||
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 86 ft | 366 ft | 1,866 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 86 ft | 400 ft | 1,945 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 78 ft | 486 ft | 1,823 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 78 ft | 524 ft | 1,763 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 83 ft | 416 ft | 1,716 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 79 ft | 514 ft | 1,685 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 74 ft | 388 ft | 1,634 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 101 ft | 430 ft | 1,538 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 51 ft | 336 ft | 1,561 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 36 ft | 301 ft | 1,486 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 67 ft | 359 ft | 1,446 ft | $24–$48 |
| AREA SARDINE LAKE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 51 ft | 301 ft | 1,370 ft | $24–$48 |
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Salmon CreekTahoe National Forest · 0.4 mi
DiabloTahoe National Forest · 1.4 mi
BergerTahoe National Forest · 1.6 mi
PacksaddleTahoe National Forest · 1.8 mi
SierraTahoe National Forest · 3.3 miFrom Sierra City, travel north on Highway 49 for 5 miles. Turn left at Bassett Station on Gold Lake Highway and continue just over a mile to Packer Lake Road and turn left. Continue for about 1 mile and turn left into the campground.
From Sierraville, travel south on Highway 49 for about 18 miles. Turn right at Bassett Station on Gold Lake Highway and continue just over a mile to Packer Lake Road and turn left. Continue for about 1 mile and turn left into the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sierra City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
Sardine Lake 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 →