Cottonwood Campground, near Sierraville, California, is a solid choice for those looking to enjoy the great outdoors without straying too far from civilization. This campground features well-spaced sites that offer a good amount of privacy, making it a nice spot for families and groups to set up camp.

You’ll find essential amenities like picnic tables, fire rings, and vault toilets, along with drinking water available nearby. Many visitors have appreciated the towering trees that provide ample shade, especially during those hot summer afternoons. As one camper noted, “The campground has towering trees and most sites are very well shaded,” which is a big plus compared to other nearby spots.

For those who enjoy hiking, there’s a botanical trail right at the campground that’s perfect for a leisurely stroll. It’s a half-mile round trip and follows the creek, with markers highlighting various plants along the way. If you’re up for a bit more of a challenge, there’s an offshoot trail that leads to a lookout with some nice views of the valley.

Cottonwood Campground is conveniently located just a few miles from Sierraville, where you can find a small grocery store and gas station for any last-minute supplies. Whether you’re here for a weekend getaway or a longer stay, this campground offers a friendly atmosphere and plenty of opportunities to unwind in nature.

## Overview

 Cottonwood Creek Campground is located on Highway 89, four miles south of Sierraville. Its location makes it a great base camp for a variety of recreational activities, including fishing, hunting, hiking and biking. This facility is operated and maintained by the Tahoe National Forest.
## Recreation

 Cottonwood Creek Botanical Trail and Overlook Trail are both short, foot trails that begin in the campground. The surrounding area offers additional trails and fishing opportunities.
## Natural Features

 The campground sits along Cottonwood Creek, in a stand of Jeffrey pine, and red and white fir trees. The forest provides shade and privacy between sites, but noise from the highway can be heard within the campground. 
## Nearby Attractions

 Lake Tahoe is located about 40 minutes from the campground. Scenic Tahoe offers excellent boating, kayaking, fishing, hiking and scenic driving opportunities. Sardine Lakes, within the beautiful Lakes Basin, is a 35-minute drive northwest of the campground, via the Golden Chain/Highway 49. Stampede Reservoir is a 45-minute drive southeast.

Cottonwood Campground

The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Sierraville. Discover secluded campsites where you can reconnect with nature. Or maybe you like to bring your family and friends along. Either way, there are Sierraville campgrounds just for you. You're sure to find the perfect spot for your California camping adventure.

Sierraville

The Best Camping Near Sierraville, California

Very heavily wooded campground in a beautiful area. Vault toilets are available along with potable water spigots within a short walk from each site. 

Large rigs will not fit in this campground. We reserved a spot that said it would fit a 30’ camper but we could not get our 29’ 5th wheel into the space because of the angle and posts along the loop. I would say that only a handful of spaces could fit a larger rig (10, 20 and 44 had better angles). There are 6”x6” posts buried along the loop that prevent tow vehicles from turning out past the asphalt. 

The campground hosts were absolutely wonderful and kept the place immaculate. 

Beautiful Area - Limited Access

This campground was just another quick layover for me.

Sites were well maintained, picnic tables, fire rings and bear boxes.  

Running water, flush toilets and at every spigot there was a gallon jug filled for you to use to extinguish your fires.

  

Bathrooms were clean and well stocked, the camp host walked around to check the sites and be sure everyone had paid.

  

Was a nice quite site but I was toward the back part of the campground.  I'm sure if you were toward the front part there would be road noise.

Does the job, excellent camp host

Most of the sites were pretty well spaced apart with a few exceptions. Fire pits, running water, vault toilets. It can get sunny in your spot and shade is hard to come by in early afternoon. Lots of red dirt dust, lots. Water play and fishing can be found at many of the lakes and streams near by, great ones within 30min drive. (Gold Lake was great!) Firewood onsite was $5 for a modest bundle. Better price than most places. Ice can be found 5min up the road in Sierraville.

Great sites and great basecamp

I was here on Memorial Day weekend and it was a fun trip! The sites were well shaded and I felt there was a good amount of distance between the spots. Each campsite allows for one car and you can pay $5 a night for one more car. The camp host was nice too!

I will say there were a lot of families so there were tons of kids running around so do with that what you will!

Cute place to camp with family

Located with convenient access from Highway 89, the campgrounds and all sites can be easily accessed by any road vehicle. Several motorcycle campers were here during my visit. The sites I saw were all pull in/back in… no pull through. Highway 89 is a two-lane highway, well paved, and plowed in the winter.

A friendly camp host can set you up with a site recommendation and as much firewood as you'd like to buy (current price was $5 for about 10 pieces).

Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring, and cooking fire enclosure (bricks covered by grate). They do not have bear lockers and the site suggests you store your food in your locked vehicle.

Sites varied in size and proximity to other campers. In mid-summer mid-week, there were less than 10 campers in the whole campground. Every week is different, but most people appeared to have reservations starting on Wednesday, so Monday-Tuesday are very light. There are first-come-first-serve sites, but the ones taking reservations seemed to book up for the weekend.

Sites near Highway 89 will hear road noise during the day and the occasional vehicle at night. Some of these are big logging trucks or diesels, so if you are a light sleeper or looking to get away from society, pick a site closer to the back. In the back, if there was the slightest breeze, I could only hear it blowing through the trees and no road noise. This was a big plus versus other sites in the area which tend to all be very close to the highway.

The campground has towering trees and most sites are very well shaded. This is a big plus versus nearby campgrounds that may have pull-through spaces but also sparse coverage. 

This site is close to civilization. About 2-3 miles North the forest ends and there is a ranger station. Another 2 miles beyond that is the town of Sierraville. The small gas station/grocery store says fuel is available 24/7, advertises propane available, has diesel, and has a modest selection of food and supplies. Definitely enough to help round out your inventory. The town has two cafes but I did not visit and can't confirm if they are still open (one said "for lease" in the Google photo). And of course, about 10-12 miles to the south is Truckee, a very full service town with restaurants, bars, large grocery stores, etc.

For hiking, a very easy 1/2 mile round-trip botanical trail is located at the south end of the campground. It is level, following the creek. Various markers highlight botanical references, but no brochure was available, so download one before you go just in case. The trail goes out about 1/4 mile and then turns back to return on the other side of the creek. It is fully shaded.

An offshoot from the trail takes you up 3/4 miles to the top of a hill overlook - very much worth the exercise and the view. You aren't 'on top of the world', but you have a good view of the valley and some nice breezes. The hike is moderately strenuous but there are plenty of opportunities to stop and catch your breath. It is very well shaded.

If you are looking to burn off a few calories, a campground walk plus botanical trail plus lookout trail loop will get you to about 3 miles total including a good uphill portion to the lookout.

Very friendly, convenient campground

As a mid sized campground, this isn't bad at all with many of the sites offering privacy. The "Reserved/open" indicators are a bit confusing however.

Midweek in July it was, at best, 10% full.

Photos of Cottonwood Campground

Real photos from real campers