Best Tent Camping near Berry Creek, CA

Says right on the web home page, no tent camping ( no car camping either).

I tent camped and loved it. Very quiet and beautiful scenery. A water faucet and picnic table at every campsite .

This campground is just south of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It has two main sections, one for RVs and the other for tents.  There are a small number of RV sites with full hookups and then a larger number of tent sites.  The RV sites are fairly small, but felt separated enough to have some privacy.  The tent sites are a bit more rustic.

The other slightly odd part is that most of the RV sites were filled with people who came and stayed for the entire summer, year after year.  We were the only not long-term camper in the RV section.  

Pros:

* Close to a lot of amazing scenery with Lassen

* Well kept, clean, quiet campground

* Camp store/restaurant is great

* Laundry on site

* Access to a nice little creek w/swimming hole

Cons:

* Camp store is open limited days

* Tent sites only have pit toilets which are not the best maintained

OK:

* No fires in the RV sites

* Showers were not always very clean

This is a small hidden little gem of a campground. They have flush toilets and bear boxes which makes it nice for those of us that tent camp. Close to the water and sites have plenty of space.

This campground has it all. It’s clean, has great amenities (pool, showers, kitchen, bathrooms), and it’s a nice walk away from town. It has a spot for everyone - RVs, glamping tents, and the standard tent sites (my style).

Highly recommend!

Great place to stay. 1 hours drive from Reno. Lake with in 5 minutes of the campground. Spots for RVs, travel trailers and/or just tent camping. Restrooms spread around the area with access to fresh water. Good size creek flowing through the campground from the lake above.

We spent two nights doing a family and friends reunion. We loved our rv spot, the rest of the group had great tent site and glamping tents. Facilities were super clean and nice. Pool was small but the pool area was really nice. Great location for swimming in the Yuba river!

Lake cove is always a good choice. Clean bathrooms and laundry facility on site. There are tent sites, even sites with and without hookups, cabins, and a trailer to rent. They also have a volleyball court, horse shoes, and arcade available.

Scott’s Flat is just five miles outside of Nevada City. It is run by the Nevada Irrigation District. One of the many man made lakes in the region. There are bath houses, tent sites and no hookup RV sites. It is clean but can become loud with rowdy camping neighbors. A beautiful lake to boat, fish and swim.

I get the impression this is a family park. There are cabins & tent sites and a handful of RV spots. Good for a shower & dump. The list of park rule are too long to list. Nice bathrooms. Cell & WiFi are poor for AT&T users. I only stayed here because it was all that was open in the area in March and I needed a shower!

This review is based on an off-season visit. During the summer months, this campground would likely have a much different vibe. In fact, our family camped at Rollins Lake 20+ years ago and had a great time (although it was at a different RL campground). This is one of two Rollins Lake campgrounds open in the off-season; it is open for camping, boating, swimming, and picnicking year-round. Although we saw several boat trailers in the day-use area, there was only one occupied campsite on a Tuesday in late October. The camp store was closed for the season. 

There is a mix of FHU, electric, and tent sites. The sites have gravel camper pads, and many were not clearly defined and, in fact, seemed to be laid out in a hodgepodge fashion, making it difficult to see where the sites were separated. If the campground was full, there would be little to no privacy/separation between sites. 

I thought the fees were a bit high for this campground - $51 for a tent site, $56 for electric, and $65 for FHU. The website does not provide much information on camping, so I called. It took more than a month for my call to be returned. We felt a little like Goldilocks but after eating our lunch, we decided to head further down the road in search of a more affordable campground.

This is a great spot for camping. There are very nice and large spots for both Camper and Tent camping. The bathrooms and showers are clean and exactly what you would expect from a county park. There are lots of tall trees for shade during the day, and the trees separated the spots enough that groups can be separate or together. The road isn’t too close, and there isn’t much traffic after 9:00 or so anyways.

There is also a water access to go easing and a few deep spots for swimming.

There are also 3 Poké stops and a gym for Pokémon Go players.

This campground was very close to Lassen NP, which is convenient. Check-In is simply looking at your name on the board and finding your campsite, which is not clear from the confirmation email. It would've been nice to speak to a host to get the lay of the land. The vault toilets in the tent area are very dark even during the day, and are not well maintained. The showers were also very dirty with dead bugs everywhere. The trail down to Mill Creek while short, is incredibly steep and narrow. The creek itself is beautiful and you can hear it while you fall asleep which is nice. The tent sites in the upper numbers are well spaced out. And there are deer in the area that come right by your site :) Mosquitoes were not bad at all even right next to the creek. I would maybe try another campground that came recommend from a fellow tent camper while at this one. Also, I couldn't get a cell signal for Verizon the whole time I was at the campground.

Why we booked: Came to see Lassen NP. Manzanita Lake Campground canceled on us, and we needed a spot with plenty of FCFS availability.

Campground: Basic USFS campground. Heavily wooded with pine and sequoias, sites relatively spacious, vault toilets and threaded water spigots throughout. We were able to fill our tank by connecting a couple of hoses. Some spots for okay solar—we were getting 200W of a possible 400 after picking a sunny campsite in the summer. Being on a 55mph road, you do get road noise that dies down at night. Probably makes this a better campground for RVs than tent camping. Combining Verizon and T-Mobile with our router and booster let my wife and I work on video calls with few problems.

Quirks: Huge stacks of free firewood due to work done since a huge fire swept through the area a couple of years ago.

Site: Ours was one of a handful that can fit bigger rigs. Most folks should be able to get in here just fine—but if you're bigger, be good at backing.

Nearby: The southwest Lassen NP entrance is about 20 minutes away. The town of Chester is 20 minutes the other way, with propane and diesel and some decent food.

Value: Perfect!

This review is based on an off-season visit. During the summer months, this campground would likely have a much different vibe. This is one of two Rollins Lake campgrounds open in the off-season and we only saw a handful of occupied sites. The store and marina were closed for the season, but I imagine this campground would be full of people with boats during the summer. 

The sites all had paved camper pads that were generous in length and would likely accommodate any size RV. There is a mix of FHU, electric, and no hookups. 

The restrooms were basic and had soap and paper towels. There was one shower that looked a bit sketchy. 

We were surprised that the lake level appeared so low. When talking to a NID (Nevada Irrigation Department) employee, we found out the lake is used for hydroelectric power and the lake level was actually rising again (it was even lower in September). 

I thought the fees were a bit high for this campground -$51 for a tent site,$56 for electric and $65 for FHU. We drove around and decided to check out the other open Rollins Lake campground before deciding where to stay.

Four years running and eight trips under our belt, we love camping here. Only once was it not enjoyable, and that was last year when all of the "new" campers came out of the woodwork during quarantine and couldn't understand campground rules to save their lives.

That said, our group adores Bear River. It offers rather level (if not flat) tent camping, and a few RV spots as well. Each spot has a fire ring, grill and picnic table. Their reservation site will let you know when they abide fire season safety and don't allow fires of any kind, so you have time to prepare. The on-site bathrooms are cleaned daily and roomy. You'll need light even before the sun sets though, it gets dark quickly in there.

Depending on which site you choose, accessing the river can take some work, but a quick trip to the day use area provides very easy access. Our favorite spot has some easy climbing access, and we bring our chairs down and relax riverside all day long.

There will almost always be several gold panning folks, and they almost always keep to themselves and don't disturb campers.

The air is deliciously clean, the river provides a calming soundtrack at night, and the rangers are friendly and helpful.

Animal-wise, we have seen everything from chickens to deer to a bear once, but it was absolutely terrified to see humans and fled immediately. Always know your surroundings and read up on your site - there will always be useful safety tips!

Some of my family has camped here in the past at one of the tent sites. We decided this time around to reserve one of their cabins. We stayed at the Diamond P cabin which has the best view of the lake within this group of cabins. You can walk to the lake (it’s about 100 yards) from this location. Though it does fill up fast (by 11am it was pretty full). They have a large portable toilet there for use. We spent our time at the pool which is near the flushable toilets and the ice cream parlor, restaurant, and camp store. The pool goes from 3.5’ ft to 5’ back to 3.5’ ft.

The cabin was great. Two bedrooms, each with twin bunk beds and a full bottom bunk and twin above. Small bathroom with shower, mini fridge, hot plates, microwave, and dishes. Dining table and futon in the living area. Nice wide front porch to sit on and enjoy the view, communal tables and bbq for all the cabins. This unit also had a swamp cooler to help manage the heat.

Check in is 4pm and check out is 11am. There is also a small game room with a pool table, a baseball field, paddle boats, and kayaks to rent.

The down side is how quickly the easiest access to the lake fills up. Everyone has to drive over from the tent RV site to access the water. There are other places you can drive and park to get to the water, but there it a drop off into the water from there vs a gradual walk in.

We stayed here after a long day of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The trail goes right through the "resort" town. The place is very eclectic, full of antique, unusual and thrift store kinds of stuff. You can stay at the motel, cabins, RV or tent sites. There's a restaurant, bar, and country store. The prices at the store are exorbitant, ($5 for 4 ramen packs). The bathrooms were dirty and so was the shower. The laundry machines outside the bathrooms were broken. The waitresses we had for dinner and breakfast were rude. We spent a lot of money at the store, restaurant and bar and as soon as bikers and locals showed up we stopped getting any kind of service. You can ask the staff for password for the wifi but the wifi is extremely slow and cell service is almost nil. Camping was weird. We had to ask three people before we got directed to where to camp at. One person suggested if we paid the bartender $20 we could get a campsite. Another one told us the campground was full with a family reunion. We were finally directed to free camp sites behind the school house. It wasn't a reunion, unless Grandma is really hip and likes rave music. But the baby there did not like it and cried all night. We were next to the "festival". The rave music played until 7 am. The bartender in the morning told us that they have music festivals like that all summer long. Even being free this place was not worth the stop. Caribou Crossing up the road was kinder and had amenities that worked.

The Inn Town Campground is unlike any other campground I’ve ever been to. We have stayed in one of the glampinig tents, and have also brought our RV. The common house has a fully stocked kitchen so you can camp without having to bring supplies! The campground is exceptionally clean and meticulously maintained. We even had a heated mattress pad in our glamping tent to keep warm 😁 The owners, Dan and Erin Thiem, really have thought of everything. Staying with them is a must!

Easy access to water (creek) and firewood. Definitely a lot of mosquitoes, but once the fire kicks in they scatter. Not much hammocking options. Go with a tent.