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

Sawmill Flat Campground

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 10 mi
Wildfire
Wildfire Training fire · 10 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
Wildfire
Land fire · 21 mi away · 20 acres · updated Oct 11, 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
OpenThe agency lists it open
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Season
June 1 – December 31Open June 1 through December 31
Drawn from the record · 6,720 ft · 38% tree cover · water within reach · Bortle 3 sky
6,720 ftElevation
70 ftWater · an unnamed stream
17.5 miNE of Squaw Valley, CA
38%Tree cover
Bortle 3Night sky · 646th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Open June 1 through December 31Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

In a setting of pine, cedar, manzanita, and Bear Clover, Sawmill Flat Campground is a popular hunters' camp. The campground has vault toilets and each site has a table and fire ring. Access is paved, dirt, and gravel. Water and garbage service not provided.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…hunters' camp. The campground has vault toilets and each site has a table and fire ring. Access is…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. 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 record
A nightFreeNo camping feethe agency’s fee record
A weekendNothingDerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Camping feeFree
No fees
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
A night, and a whole weekendDerivedNothing

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

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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

Overnight49°Clear
Saturday66°Sunny
Saturday Night45°Clear
Sunday63°Sunny

NWS forecast for Shaver Lake, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 39°F, day 63°F.

Coldest night of the open season: typical December night 25°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°20°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season

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: GRANT GROVE, CA (USC00043551), 16 miles away and 140 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
Sycamore Springs10,015 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Woodchuck267 acres · 7 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Kings River52,999 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

Tom McClintock, official portrait

Sawmill Flat Campground is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), 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: The agency lists it open right now.
Season: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 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.
Nearest place of any size: Shaver Lake, CA, 15.2 mi ESE (a census designated place). Straight line.