Best Campgrounds near Garden Valley, CA

I prefer dispersed camping for the quiet and solitude but we met friends here who picked the campground. That said, this is a nice established cg. Not a lot of privacy (wide open so you can see everyone around you) but individual sites have room between them. Campers when we were there were fairly quiet but even quiet sounds travel, especially at night. Smoke from all the campfires is not great for people with asthma. Bathrooms are very nice: clean, flush toilets, and sinks with cold water taps. Bear boxes provided. There’s lots of trails to hike here, an an extensive ranger station with a Visitor Center, snack bar, and organized talks and activities. The big trees are exactly as advertised: incredibly big and awe-inspiring. Just wish state parks would let you take your leashed dogs on the trails. Otherwise, a very nice public campground if that’s your thing.

We've camped at Webber for several years now and we make it an annual trip for so many great reasons. The lake itself is wonderful. The water can be on the cool side but not so much that you don't want to swim in it in August for sure. It's shallow through out most go the lake and much of it is a gravel bottom so water shoes are recommended. 

There are two campgrounds - the old Northside campground and the new Westside campground. The Northside has more campsites with various views. The layouts can be sorta hodge podgie - it's not like a state campground where sites are clearly marked etc, but almost all are nice at both campgrounds. The north site has better views of the mountains overlooking the lake while the sites at the west one have better access to the lake. They do allow you to scavenge for firewood in the area - there's a lot of dead and down in the nearby forest so just drive around and pick up what you need. In June and into July the mosquitos can be horrific - I've heard of people leaving as they can be so bad!

They open up reservations usually in March and the website can be finicky and a few letters to ask them to improve it haven't helped. The sites go fast. Their cancelation policy is draconian so make sure you're able to go because getting a refund may not be possible. 

The best improvement in the past couple of years is that they now have drinking water. There is no dump station or hookups. There is no cell service either although if you have 4 wheel drive you could drive up to one of the local mountain tops and get service there.

They do rent out one of the small cabins and also there's a big house that sleeps 10 - you have to rent it for 6 days mandatory. It has solar, generator, hot showers, bathrooms, etc., and books out very fast. We're going to be there for the first time in September so I'll try to report about it then.

Kayaking on the lake is the best but you need to sign the release that says you have cleaned your kayak of any possible mussels etc - there's a serious epidemic happening now so please make sure your boats are clean.

Nearby Webber Falls has some great swimming holes although the hike is on very unimproved trails and a bit steep so this is not for those folks who have walking issues. 

The Tahoe Truckee Land trust owns the property. The camp hosts are good although there are new hosts this year but my interactions on the phone have been great.

We live just up the road (Nevada City) yet we ignored this campground for years thinking it was full of trailer trash. But years ago Yuba County did a great job of cleaning this place up and putting in hookups and paving the campground and adding irrigation systems that keep the grass green all year long.

My favorite thing about this campground is the birds! I use the Merlin app to identify the birds here and so far this place holds my record of around 18 birds not including the more silent ones we saw. There are turtles and otters in the creek to check out as well. 

The camp host (Jan The Man) is the best camp host ever!

Weekdays are the best when there are few people but on weekends it does fill up. We did camp one time and some folks were having a karaoke party late into the night (somehow I suspect they will never be back). Usually everyone's respectful and its a great place to be.

We left 1 day into our 4 day stay. The scenery, beautiful. The river, stunning. The campsite, tiny and awkwardly set up (Site12 specifically), good shade though. Prior occupants left a bunch of trash (as in an entire tent.....) in the bear box that we had to dispose of. Clean enough bathrooms. No firewood on site (which we were sdvised there would be) at the camp host site, don't think we had one, if we did they're hard of hearing. Drove up the road to a different campsite per the info board and got wood there **CASH ONLY**

Awful site neighbors, incredibly loud, watching reality TV shows at top volume, even waking me up at 0400 talking full volume 10 feet from our tent. Another neighbor with a generator on until almost 11pm. 

*****ROAD NOISE. So. Much. Road. Noise. There was next to zero peaceful outdoor serenity. Not only the noise from the road, but the headlights hit our tent all night as well. 

Won't be back, sad to end the week early, but no way were we able to stay with all of that going on. Was supposed to be a peaceful, quiet, relaxing week away from the sounds of a loud city......all we did was add a few trees 🤷‍♀️