Some friends of ours love North Fork Campground just off I-80 at Emigrant Gap, so we were going to try it on the way back from the California coast to Reno. North Fork Campground was nice, and would have been a good place to spend the night, but felt a bit dark and tight with dense foliage along the beginnings of the North Fork of the American River. We saw that Onion Valley Campground was just a bit further. Nobody there, so we took a spot at the far end of the campground next to the meadow. Very peaceful for a short afternoon stop and a morning departure.