Wildcat Recreation Area Campground
1Heads up1 fire 46 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:41 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 19All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wildcat Recreation Area Campground on Eastman Lake is a perfect launchpad for activities like canoeing, birding and hiking. Tucked in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the area attracts abundant wildlife like bobcats, golden eagles, mountain lions, hawks and wood ducks. Wildcat Recreation Area Campground includes three equestrian sites with horse corrals. Keep reading
Recreation
Eastman Lake is the first designated Trophy Bass Fishery, by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Both young and old anglers will find fishing on Eastman lake a satisfying challenge. Wildcat Recreation Area Campground at Buchanan Dam, H.V. Eastman Lake is a perfect launchpad for activities like horseback riding, birding and hiking.
Facilities
Wildcat Recreation Area Campground facility offers areas for camping, horse corrals, water, BBQs , fire pits, picnic tables, toilets, and access to showers.
Natural Features
The rolling hills around Buchanan Dam, H.V. Eastman Lake are surrounded by tall grasses and scattered oak trees, giving way to stunning mountain views. The lake features 1,780 surface acres, fed by the cool waters of the Chowchilla River.
Nearby Attractions
The Sierra National Forest is a short drive to the east of the campground.
What the agency tells you
General store and fuel services are 20 miles away
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Please remember to wear a life jacket when you are in and on the water.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 19 · 3 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 18 of 19
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 18 of 19 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 19 of 19 campsite records, WATER SPIGOT on 19 of 19 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Biking
- Birding
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Mountain biking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 1002nd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
36 of 38 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:41 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
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 15:41 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
19 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 19 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 19 of the 19 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| WCAT | W01 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 132 ft | 1,582 ft | 2,619 ft | $20 |
| WCAT | W02 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 101 ft | 1,740 ft | 2,492 ft | $20 |
| WCAT | W03 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 89 ft | 1,837 ft | 2,378 ft | $20 |
| WCAT | W04 | standard nonelectric | 89 ft | 1,841 ft | 2,392 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W05 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 1,973 ft | 2,262 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W06 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 2,063 ft | 2,183 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W07 | standard nonelectric | 109 ft | 2,155 ftH. V. Eastman Lake | 2,076 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W08 | standard nonelectric | 114 ft | 2,045 ftH. V. Eastman Lake | 2,105 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W09 | standard nonelectric | 86 ft | 1,964 ftH. V. Eastman Lake | 2,256 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W10 | standard nonelectric | 86 ft | 1,966 ft | 2,341 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W11 | standard nonelectric | 91 ft | 1,875 ft | 2,425 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W12 | standard nonelectric | 104 ft | 1,769 ft | 2,519 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W13 | standard nonelectric | 104 ft | 1,801 ft | 2,457 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W14 | standard nonelectric | 120 ft | 1,661 ft | 2,588 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W15 | standard nonelectric | 192 ft | 2,009 ft | 2,180 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W16 | equestrian nonelectric | 95 ft | 1,714 ft | 2,469 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W17 | equestrian nonelectric | 95 ft | 1,634 ft | 2,537 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W18 | equestrian nonelectric | 127 ft | 1,518 ft | 2,640 ft | $20 | |
| WCAT | W19 | standard nonelectric | 127 ft | 1,501 ft | 2,673 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Yosemite Lakes, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 80°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 38°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Wildcat Recreation Area 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 →