Silver Lake Campground (Plumas National Forest, CA)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 139 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Large landscape views of trees and valleys can be seen along the six mile drive to Silver Lake. Sitting at just over 6,000 ft in elevation, the Silver lake campground set up for solitude and tranquility. The sites are spread out and isolated to provide for an optimal quiet experience to enhance the camping experience. Easy access to hiking trails, high alpine lakes and OHV riding is just a short distance from the campground. Keep reading
Recreation
High alpine lakes, granite boulders and blue bird skies are treats for those who camp here. Access to hiking is located along the eastern side of Silver Lake. Continue up and on to Bucks Summit on the PCT or climb the prominent Spanish Peak where the ole look out once stood. OHV routes also leave from the campground area but were severely impacted by the Dixie Fire in 2021 and have not been maintained so be aware of hazard trees and other debris that might slow down your route.
Facilities
There are eight first come/ first serve campsites. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and food storage locker. No trash service is provided Vault toilets are located in two areas of the campground Parking for day use and hiking is located near the lake by the vault toilets The Mount Hough Ranger Station maintains this campground and uses the fees collected to purchase cleaning supplies, toilet paper and general cleaning of campsites.
Natural Features
High alpine lakes, granite boulders and blue bird skies are treats for those who camp here. Access to hiking is located along the eastern side of Silver Lake. Continue up and on to Bucks Summit on the PCT or climb the prominent Spanish Peak where the ole look out once stood. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 283-0555.
What the agency tells you
This campground will be managed by Mt Hough staff from May 16th, weather permitting, to September 28th.
All campsites are first come/ first serve
Fees are $15 per day for standard rate
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Pay via QR Code if the REC.gov app is pre-loaded on your portable device
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 13
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 9 of 9 campsite records
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:33 UTC
recreation.gov lists 9 of the 13 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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.
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:33 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites · the site map
All 13 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. 9 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 2 | type not stated | ||
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 3 | type not stated | ||
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 4 | type not stated | ||
| Scan and Pay | Standard | type not stated | 384 ft | |
| Silver Lake | 01 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 02 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 03 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 04 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 05 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 06 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 07 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 08 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| Silver Lake | 09 | standard nonelectric | $20 |
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 phone number
Where it is
Mill Creek Campground (Plumas)Plumas National Forest · 4.2 mi
Whitehorse CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 4.9 mi
HallstedPlumas National Forest · 5.2 miMeadow Camp CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 5.3 mi
Sundew Campground (CA)Plumas National Forest · 5.4 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Meadow Valley, 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
Silver Lake Campground (Plumas National Forest, CA) 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 →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
Inside the Dixie Fire perimeter, 2021, 963,406 acres. Tree cover here read 50% in the 2021 product and 21% in the 2024 one.