Best Tent Camping near Forest Knolls, CA

This is a well maintained RV and tent camping resort. It’s great for kids that want to ride bikes around the sites- but be careful of the river, it’s swift. The RV and tent sites are in two separate areas, with more updated amenities available for RVs like hot showers. Shared pool site. Lots of great trails to weave through the campground on a mountain bike.

One downside- it can be hot. Not a lot of tree cover for the RV sites- make sure you bring shade with you. Luckily, there’s a nice cool river to swim in!

Fires are restricted sometimes in the summer. Some sites require a membership.

Local grocery and pizza, frozen yogurt available within walking distance.

Lots of great fishing, floating, and kayak accessibly. Bring tubes and life vests. Poles and bait.

Clean and best play to stay with beach access, cabins, tents sites and rv sites. Tent site can fit 2 or more tents with fire pit and picnic table. Restroom with shower and warm water.

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 .

Great camp ground with spacious spaces. Accomadates large groups and tent camping. Friendly host and very clean. Stones throw from the boat ramp and Stampede Lake. Only down is the place is a little noisey.

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!

At the top of the Sierras, El Dorado national forest, tucked in away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Stunning views, and blue skies, campground is well maintained and accessible. Rvs and tent camping. Shallow lake that warms up a little for kayaking and swimming. Great family lake.

This review is for tent camping, not RVs.

1. Nearly all of the tent sites are tiny and crowded very closely together with no privacy breaks at all between them. To make it even more claustrophobic, many of the near-river sites are terraced into the hillside so you stand at the bottom and look up into a wall of tents stacked 3 high on top of each other. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and most of the sites were full so the effect was like looking up into a packed stadium from the bottom row of bleacher seats. That first night was like a giant tailgate frat party. Multiple groups were blasting music & even though that’s against the rules nobody seemed to make them stop. Thank goodness we were able to move a few sites away, and then everybody cleared out the next day. The best site is #31. If you’re going on a weekend or any time during the summer, don’t make any reservation at all if you can’t get #31. I’m not putting that in my google review btw, that’s only for folks on Dyrt.

2. The facilities have a lot of maintenance issues that just aren’t being taken care of. For example: there are two bathroom buildings, an old one built out of rail cars (?) near the river and a newer-construction one uphill by the RV sites. Both bathrooms have multiple sinks and toilets that are out of order. In the downhill ladies room there was a toilet that ran water constantly and another that wouldn’t flush at all. I actually took that 2nd one apart and fixed it myself. That same ladies’ room had a sink removed completely from the wall leaving hanging pipes sticking out, a 2nd sink that wouldn’t turn on, a 3rd sink with wobbly handles, and a 4th sink that was fully functional. Next to that restroom on one side was what was supposed to be a shower facility but it was completely out of order and locked. On the other side of the restroom there was what was supposed to be a dishwashing station but it was disconnected with pipes dangling and dirt & leaves filling the sink. Why install nice things and then let them fall apart? I don’t understand.

3. They do seem to keep the toilets stocked with soap and TP and paper towels, and there are lots of garbage cans that do get emptied when needed. However, sometimes campers are naughty and leave behind trash outside the bins. This ranges from micro-trash (bottle caps, wrapper ends) to big pieces (foil pans, beer bottles). We stayed there for 2 days after the giant party moved on, but we never saw camp staff coming around to deal with the loose litter. We were pulling wads of fishing line out of the rocks and throwing away other people’s bottles. Blech.

4. There is an on-site rafting company. We took a full-day rafting trip that launched right from the campground & we had a great time.

5. There is a little general store that sells ice, firewood, souvenirs, Tshirts, etc.

6. It is a gated facility so hopefully secure?

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.

A great little campground with a fantastic beach on the lake. Sunrise over the water was beautiful. While I personally prefer a more rustic campground (we were in the tent site right next to the bathrooms), I will give them full credit for having a well organized place with very clean bathrooms. Would be a great place to camp with kids.

Tent camped in spot 72. No shade what so ever, and it was a hot day! However loved the spacing of the campsites. Neighbors were close, though not so close to be crowded. Spot was very close to the restroom, advantage and disadvantage when a strong ordor would breeze on through. Short walk to the lake which was beautiful, spent the day floating and drinking. Have visited before, and will visit again!

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 place was amazing. It was our first trip in our new RV and it couldn’t of been more beautiful. There were super cute cabins available as well as tent sites. We came in the beginning of March and it was fairly empty so that made it really nice as well. River was stunning and it was neat to walk across the bridge and check out the old historic mining town. We are going back in august and can’t wait. Looking forward to rafting in the river !

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.