Skillman
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 7 mi
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $18–$36Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 16All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 22 – October 15Open May 22 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Skillman Campground has individual sites with enough room for parking trucks with trailers. Some of the sites have horse pens and water troughs for horses. It is located in the Tahoe National Forest near Nevada City and three historic mining towns. Keep reading
Recreation
The Pioneer Trail stretches 25 miles through the Tahoe National Forest and can be accessed from the campground. The popular trail was designated a National Recreation Trail in 2003. Horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking and cross-country skiing are favorite activities on this popular trail.
Facilities
Two horse pens are in sites 3,7,9,11,13, and 15. Water troughs are found in the campground. Site 4 is a double site and has 4 horse pens. Each single site can accommodate up to six people, four horses and two vehicles.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a forest of dogwood, cedar and Douglas fir trees, at an elevation of 3,700 feet.
Nearby Attractions
Skillman Campground is located on the Yuba Donner Scenic Byway (Highway 20) near many gold rush era historical sites and old mining towns such as Washington and Nevada City. Nevada City, about 14 miles west, is a scenic historical mining town with many historical attractions, top notch restaraunts, various lodging options, shopping, and stores for everything you may need. Other attractions include the South Yuba River, Washintong Scenic Overlook, Alpha and Omega Scenic Overlook and Interpretive Trail, Rock Creek Nature Trail, Chalk Bluff OHV trails, and Grouse Ridge Non-Motorized Area. 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
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).
Utility hookups and showers are not available
First-come, first-served sites may be available through late September
Everything else this campground posts · 4
In accordance with standard industry practices, Tahoe National Forest will assess an additional $5 vehicle fee per day for 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 one vehicle, and the third and fourth motorcycle are also considered one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles.
Click here for more information on the Tahoe National Forest
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
- 16 · 5 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 13 of 16 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 4 of 17 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Mountain biking
- Scenic drives
- Night sky · 803rd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“In accordance with standard industry practices, Tahoe National Forest will assess an additional $5 vehicle fee per day for the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $18–$36 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
17 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 17 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 16 of the 17 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA SKILLMAN | 01 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 99 ft | 356 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 02 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 277 ft | 730 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 03 | standard nonelectric | $18–$36 | |||
| AREA SKILLMAN | 04 Double | standard nonelectric | $18–$36 | |||
| AREA SKILLMAN | 05 | standard nonelectric | $18–$36 | |||
| AREA SKILLMAN | 06 | standard nonelectric | $18–$36 | |||
| AREA SKILLMAN | 07 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 215 ft | 840 ft | $18 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 08 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 188 ft | 635 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 09 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 489 ft | $18 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 10 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 55 ft | 457 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 11 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 416 ft | $18 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 12 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 46 ft | 403 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 13 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 66 ft | 351 ft | $18 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 14 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 41 ft | 361 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 15 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 112 ft | 245 ft | $18 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | 16 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 41 ft | 346 ft | $18–$36 |
| AREA SKILLMAN | HOST | host pad | $18–$36 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
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
White CloudTahoe National Forest · 2.9 mi
North Fork (CA)Tahoe National Forest · 7.9 miRucker Lake CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 8.0 miOnion Valley CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 8.2 mi
Tunnel Mills IITahoe National Forest · 8.8 miCarr Lake CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 9.9 miFrom Nevada City, travel east on Highway 20 for 14 miles. Turn right at the Skillman Campground sign and then left at the first road intersection into the campground.
From Interstate 80 take exit 161, Highway 20 to Nevada City and drive 13 miles west toward Nevada City. Turn left at the Skillman Campground sign and then turn left at the first road intersection 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 Washington, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 63°F.
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.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Skillman 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 →