Silver Creek Group Campground
1Heads up1 fire 37 mi away
- 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 · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Silver Creek, located in the Crystal Basin area, offers a fun atmosphere with beautiful scenery for group gatherings. The Ice House Reservoir is less than 2 miles away, providing fun options for motor boating, jet skiing and more. Eldorado National Forest includes the famed gold mining territory of the 1800s. Remnants of the days of the California Gold Rush are all around the region. Keep reading
Recreation
Swimming and fishing are both excellent recreation options on the creek. Rainbow and brown trout are found in these waters. The nearby Ice House Campground is convenient for access to Ice House Reservoir. Here, campers can swim, sunbathe, canoe or go water skiing. Hikers and mountain bikers can also find trails in the area.
Facilities
No drinking water is available, so bring water or use properly boiled stream water. The group site can accommodate 40 guests for tent camping. The sites include 9 walk-to units and 4 sites with parking spurs. There is a central kitchen area for cooking. Here, there is one large group fire ring. This is the only fire ring at the site. Parking is only in the parking lot ( more campground details ). A dump station is provided at nearby Ice House Campground, and showers are at Fashoda Campground.
Natural Features
Silver Creek sits under canopy of conifers like the ponderosa pine. The South Fork Silver Creek runs through the southern end of the campground, providing a peaceful soundtrack with its gently flowing water. The Eldorado Forest is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, an area known for granite peaks, alpine lakes and pine forest. An abundance of wildlife can be found within the Sierra Nevada Range, including black bears, mule deer, bobcat, gray fox, bighorn sheep, pikas, martens and a variety of squirrels. Several species of reptiles, amphibians and birds also inhabit the area.
Nearby Attractions
The Desolation Wilderness is nearby, offering the opportunity to get away from the crowds and enjoy the serenity of nature.
Charges & Cancellations
Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. Cancellation Fee: Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. 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 14 days before your arrival date. 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.
Drinking water is not available at this campground
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Entrance gates are locked; call (530) 293-0827 from 8am - 5pm to arrange entry
There are no electric site hook-ups at this facility
Tent camping only
Limit 12 vehicles; a fee will be charged for additional vehicles
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.
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.
Use only dead and down wood for campfires
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).
For more information on Eldorado National Forest, click here
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 25 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…also find trails in the area. Facilities No drinking water is available, so bring water or use properly boiled…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 773rd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 7 days ago, 26 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: Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. - Cut-Off Window: The…” · 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
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.
| AREA SILVER CREEK GROUP CAMPGROUND | 1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 25 ft | 4,253 ft | $125 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Ice HouseEldorado National Forest · 1.7 miJones Fork CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 2.2 miNorthwind CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 2.3 miStrawberry Point CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 2.7 mi
Sunset-Union ValleyEldorado National Forest · 2.8 mi
FashodaEldorado National Forest · 2.9 miTravel 23 miles east of Placerville on Highway 50. Turn north and travel 9 miles on Forest Road 3 (Ice House Road). Look for signs to Silver Creek Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pollock Pines, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 18°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
Silver Creek Group 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 →