Wolf Creek California
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 27 mi
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $36–$72Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 44All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 1 – September 30Open June 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wolf Creek Campground is a modern facility on the north shore of Union Valley Reservoir. The reservoir offers plenty of opportunities for water activities like sailing, boating, swimming and fishing. Bring a bike to explore the neighboring bike trail. 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
The paved Union Valley Bike Trail spans 4.8 miles with an easy climb of 300 feet. The trail connects campgrounds on the east side of the lake, starting from Wench Creek on down to Jones Fork Campground. Interpretive signs along the trail tell the story of the use and development of water resources in Union Valley. This trail can be used by both hikers and bikers. Anglers seek rainbow, brown and mackinaw trout or kokanee salmon. The reservoir also offers opportunities for swimming, water skiing and boating. The nearest boat ramp is at Yellowjacket Campground.
Facilities
Sites in this two-loop campground come with picnic tables, campfire rings and bear-proof food storage lockers. Most of the family sites will accommodate up to five small tents (1-2 person) or two medium-sized family tents (4-6 people). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Single, double and group campsites for up to 25 or 50 guests are all reservable. Some sites are tent-only. A host is on-site, and firewood may be available for a fee ( more campground details ).
Natural Features
At an elevation of 4,900 feet, Wolf Creek sits in the Crystal Basin of the Sierra Nevadas. This is an area known for granite peaks, alpine lakes and pine forest. The climate is similar to that of the Mediterranean with warm, dry summers and cold, wet winters. 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: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. 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 4 days before your arrival date. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (see Late Cancellation below). 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.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle, and remove all food from area after eating.
There are no electric/water/sewer site hook-ups at this facility
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Please Note: One vehicle per single site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee
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.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (1PM) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
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).
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.
First Come First Serve sites remain listed as FF for the entire season. They will not show as occupied/available online as the status of these sites is ever changing. You must be on site at the campground to claim a FF site. No guarantees upon arrival that these FF sites will be avaiable.
There is a fee to move from a reserved site to a first come first serve site. Site Transfer Policy
For more information on Eldorado National Forest, click here
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 44 · 2 tent-only, 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 16
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…medium-sized family tents (4-6 people). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Single, double and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…tents (4-6 people). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Single, double and group campsites…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- 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 Skiing
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 765th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 25 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 · 22
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $36–$72 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.
“- Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes. - Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation. - Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existi…” · 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
44 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 44 mapped sitesAll 44 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. 44 of the 44 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CALI | 001 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 136 ft | 1,067 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 002 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 85 ft | 965 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 003 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 59 ft | 877 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 004 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 127 ft | 631 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 005 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 564 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 006 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 76 ft | 489 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 007 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 59 ft | 509 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 008 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 452 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 64 ft | 499 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 010 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 64 ft | 435 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 011 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 46 ft | 520 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 012 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 46 ft | 487 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 83 ft | 353 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 014 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 107 ft | 387 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 015 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 84 ft | 375 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 016 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 78 ft | 406 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 017 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 451 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 018 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 52 ft | 500 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 019 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 63 ft | 529 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 020 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 58 ft | 437 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 64 ft | 588 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 022 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 58 ft | 385 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 023 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 415 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 024 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 110 ft | 271 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 025 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 80 ft | 381 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 026 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 63 ft | 474 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 027 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 66 ft | 422 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 028 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 70 ft | 428 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 029 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 91 ft | 405 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 030 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 41 ft | 349 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 031 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 41 ft | 326 ft | $36–$72 | |
| CALI | 032 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 87 ft | 353 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 034 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 55 ft | 394 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 035 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 110 ft | 399 ft | $36 | |
| CALI | 037 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 251 ft | 710 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 039 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 159 ft | 887 ft | $36–$72 |
| CALI | 040 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 59 ft | 932 ft | $36–$72 |
| GRP | G1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 24 ft | 1064 ft | 1,517 ft | $140 | |
| GRP | G2 | group standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 490 ft | 1,242 ft | $140–$170 | |
| GRP | G3 | group standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 708 ft | 137 ft | $140–$170 | |
| WOLF | 033 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 55 ft | 382 ft | $36–$72 | |
| WOLF | 036 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 177 ft | 546 ft | $36–$72 | |
| WOLF | 038 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 159 ft | 841 ft | $36–$72 | |
| WOLF | 041 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 85 ft | 1,012 ft | $36–$72 |
25 of 44 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Yellowjacket0.7 miSunset CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 1.0 mi
FashodaEldorado National Forest · 1.0 mi
Sunset-Union ValleyEldorado National Forest · 1.2 mi
Wench Creek1.3 miCamino Cove CampgroundEldorado National Forest · 1.6 miFrom Placerville, get on Highway 50 and head east for 21 miles to Icehouse Road. Turn left 21 miles to turnoff. Then go three-quarters of a mile to 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 June night 54°F, day 70°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
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
Wolf Creek California 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 →