South Fork Group - Eldorado NF (CA)
1Heads up1 fire 32 mi away
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- – October 31Closes October 31. No opening date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
South Fork is the largest group campground in the Crystal Basin Recreation Area, nestled in the vast expanse of the Eldorado National Forest. The remote location affords visitors a true outdoor camping experience. Keep reading
Recreation
With the South Fork of the Rubicon River located within walking distance, the group camp provides excellent fishing, swimming and other water sports and activities.
Facilities
While the campground can be used as a single group site that can accommodate up to 125 guests, it can also be reserved as multiple single-family sites. A group cooking area with food preparation tables and double grills is available, as well as campfire rings with grills at each site. Vault toilets are provided, however, drinking water is not available at the campground. Visitors can boil stream water or fill up at nearby boat ramps. A parking area is also available.
Natural Features
Situated at an elevation of 5,200 feet, the campground sits between the Union Valley Reservoir and Loon Lake. It is also just minutes away from Gerle Creek Reservoir, a serene mountain lake where motorized boating is prohibited in order to preserve a peaceful and quiet atmosphere for visitors.
Nearby Attractions
Swimming and non-motorized boating are available at Gerle Creek Reservoir, 5 miles north of the campground.
What the agency tells you
This facility does not have water or electricity
Bears frequent the area; use appropriate food containers
Gates remained closed and locked; combination is given after reservation is made
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Off-road vehicles not permitted in the campground
Golden Passports do not apply to group camps
Fires are restricted to existing metal campfire rings only. Check to know the current Fire Restrictions on the ENF
Fires are restricted to existing metal campfire rings only
For local information, call Eldorado National Forest at 530-644-6048
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campfire rings with grills at each site. Vault toilets are provided, however, drinking water is not…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…Vault toilets are provided, however, drinking water is not available at the campground. Visitors can boil stream water…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Night sky · 742nd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 7 days ago, 24 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 · 11
What you actually pay
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
| AREA SOUTH FORK GROUP | 001 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 552 ft |
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
Robbs HutEldorado National Forest · 1.7 mi
Gerle CreekEldorado National Forest · 1.9 miAirport Flat CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 2.8 mi
Yellowjacket3.9 mi
Wench Creek4.2 mi
Van Vleck BunkhouseEldorado National Forest · 4.4 miTravel 21 miles east from Placerville on Highway 50 and turn left on the Ice House Road. Go 25 miles north and turn left on South Fork Road. The campground is a mile from the turn-off, on the right side of the road.
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 63°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 29°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 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
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
South Fork Group - Eldorado NF (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 →