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Established Camping

North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor

North Shore Campground, near Lake Almanor, California, is a fantastic spot for those looking to enjoy the great outdoors with a beautiful lakeside backdrop. This campground offers a mix of tent, RV, and cabin accommodations, making it suitable for various camping styles.

Visitors rave about the stunning views and the proximity to the water, perfect for kayaking and fishing. One camper mentioned, “We had a nice view of the lake right in our 'front yard'.” The campground also features essential amenities like drinking water, showers, and clean portable toilets, ensuring a comfortable stay without sacrificing the rustic charm of camping.

If you're into outdoor activities, you’ll find plenty to do here. The campground is just a stone's throw from Lassen Volcanic National Park, where you can explore hiking trails and witness some incredible volcanic landscapes. Plus, the friendly staff is known for their welcoming attitude, making you feel right at home. As one happy camper put it, “Super nice staff!! They remembered us after only staying here twice.”

While the sites can be a bit close together, the peaceful atmosphere and the natural beauty surrounding North Shore Campground make it a great choice for a relaxing getaway. Whether you're fishing, kayaking, or just soaking in the views, this campground has a lot to offer.

Description

Overview

North Shore Campground is a quiet place to camp, away from the hustle and bustle of nearby cities. The campground is nestled among Southern California's pine-covered mountains, providing ample opportunity for outdoor relaxation and recreation.

Recreation

The North Shore National Recreation Trail connects the campground with Papoose Lake (trail is not accessible). The 1.7-mile trail descends through a mixed conifer forest and settles along Little Bear Creek, providing scenic views of the surrounding area. Please note, nearby Lake Arrowhead is a private lake.

Facilities

The North Shore National Recreation Trail connects the campground with Papoose Lake (trail is not accessible). The 1.7-mile trail descends through a mixed conifer forest and settles along Little Bear Creek, providing scenic views of the surrounding area. Please note, nearby Lake Arrowhead is a private lake.

Natural Features

The campground is located 23 miles northeast of San Bernardino in the San Bernardino National Forest. It is about 3 miles from the community of Lake Arrowhead. Settled in an oak woodland environment, the campground is close to many outdoor amenities. Lake Arowhead is a private lake, no access available.

Nearby Attractions

Lake Gregory is located 40 minute away and offers fishing, boat rentals and a waterslide park. Lake Arrowhead is a private lake, no public access.

Charges & Cancellations

Rules & Reservation Policies As you make travel plans that include reservations on Recreation.gov, there are standard policies that apply to most locations of which you should be aware. Do keep in mind, however, that there are many exceptions, so it is best to review reservation information listed on individual facility pages for those policies and procedures that pertain to your specific locations.__ Any location or activity requiring a permit or lottery will have unique requirements and policies. Please check individual facility pages for pertinent information for those sites.__ Booking Window For most locations, you can reserve six months in advance of your stay for individual sites and 12 months in advance for group sites. There are some exceptions, so it is best to check with each facility.__ Change and Cancellation Policies and Fees Overnight and Day Use Facilities: To ensure fairness, reservation arrival or departure dates may not be changed beyond the booking window until 18 days after booking the reservation.__ Camping / Day Use: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation (including campsites, cabins, lookouts, group facilities, etc.). The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount. You can cancel or change reservations through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Tours & Tickets: You may request changes to tour dates at no cost before the arrival date. If you cancel before your tour date, you may be eligible for a refund. Cancellation fees apply. Please check the tour facility description details page for cancellation policies.__ Permits: Varies by location. Please check the permit details for the permit location.__ Late Cancellations Overnight and Day Use Facilities: Late cancellations are those cancelled between 12:01 a.m. (Eastern) on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival. Individual Campsites: If a customer cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival they will be charged a $10.00 service fee and will also forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a single night's reservation will forfeit the entire use fee but no cancellation fee will apply. Cabins / Lookouts: Customers will be charged a $10.00 cancellation fee and forfeit the first night's use fee if a cabin or lookout reservation is cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date. Cancellations for a single night's use will not be assessed a service fee. Group Facility: If a customer cancels a group overnight facility reservation within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date they will be charged the $10.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's use fee. Cancellations for a single night's use will not be assessed a service fee. Group Day Use Area: If a customer cancels a group day use facility reservation within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date, they will forfeit the total day use fee with no service fee charge. No-Shows Camping / Day Use: A camping no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Reserved campsites and group overnight facilities will be held until check-out time on the day following your scheduled arrival. Group day-use facilities will be held until check-in time on your scheduled arrival date.__ If a customer does not arrive at the campground or group facility by check-out time the day after arrival or does not cancel the reservation by the times listed under "Late Cancellations" above, the customer may be assessed a $20.00 service fee and forfeit use fees.__ Tours: A tour or ticket no-show is one who does not cancel a ticket before arrival and does not arrive for the tour. Tour no-shows are not entitled to a refund.__ Refunds Customers must request refunds no later than 14 days after the scheduled departure date. Recreation.gov will not grant refund requests after 14 days of departure.__ Reservation Fee: For some facilities, tours or permits an additional reservation fee is charged. For some overnight and day-use facilities, an additional non-refundable reservation fee may apply. The non-refundable reservation fee for tours and tickets is $1.00. The non-refundable reservation fee for permits varies by location. Refunds for Bankcard Purchases: Refunds for bank card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank card. Refunds for Check or Cash Purchases: Refunds for Recreation.gov payments made by check or money order, and cash payments at selected campgrounds will be issued a check refund. A refund will be processed within 30 days of receipt and approval. Please Note: Refund requests made during or after departure can only be processed when approved by the facility management staff based upon local policy. Refunds for Emergency Closures: In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team will attempt to notify users and offer alternate dates (as appropriate). If this is not possible, reservations will be cancelled and all fees paid will be refunded. Reservation fees for free tickets are non-refundable in the event of an emergency closure. Recreation.gov Billing Information Reservation transaction will appear on customer's credit card statements as "Recreation.gov 877-444-6777."__ Changes to Policies and Procedures Recreation.gov reserves the right, when necessary, to modify reservation policies. These policies were last updated July__

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Location

North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor is located in California

Detail location of campground

Directions

From San Bernardino, take Highway 18 about 20 miles to the Lake Arrowhead exit. Take Highway 173 for 5 miles to the northeast side of the lake. Turn right on Hospital Road and follow it to the campground.

Address

PO BOX 365
Fawnskin, CA 92333

Coordinates

34.266668 N
117.168046 W

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Access

  • Drive-In
    Park next to your site

Stay Connected

  • WiFi
    Poor
  • Verizon
    Unknown
  • AT&T
    Good
  • T-Mobile
    Unknown

Site Types

  • Tent Sites
  • RV Sites
  • Standard (Tent/RV)
  • Cabins
  • Tent Cabin
  • Yurts

Features

For Campers

  • Market
  • Trash
  • Picnic Table
  • Firewood Available
  • Phone Service
  • Reservable
  • WiFi
  • Drinking Water
  • Toilets
  • Alcohol
  • Pets
  • Fires

For Vehicles

  • Sanitary Dump

Reviews

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5 Stars

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1 Star

39%
39%
16%
0%
10%

4.0

out of 5

13 Reviews

Reviewed Sep. 6, 2024

Filthy, Dusty, Rude, One and Done

Booked this campground for 3 nights, in large part for the hot showers. The showers and bathroom facilities are frankly disgusting and not something we would us, nor would our friends who were there with us. The staff was rude and provided the typical"we don't provide refunds" when we told them respectfully we we're leaving after the first night. The campground was a wierd mix of what looked liked full-time campers but mostly no one was occupying the sites that there campers and belongings were left at. Post apocalyptic vibe, can you say ghost town. North Shore Campground is a dusty one and done for us. Caveat emptor.

Month of VisitSeptember
Reviewed Jan. 26, 2022

Beautiful

Went as it was one of the first into northern CA from Oregon. Lucked out ! Just about to book for this June .

Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by david B., January 26, 2022
Reviewed Jun. 7, 2021

Super friendly staff!

Super nice staff!! They remembered us after only staying here twice which means they take pride in the care for their customers. We love that we can tent camp by the water!

Will definitely recommend to anyone!

Site88
Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Sandi B., June 7, 2021
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Sandi B., June 7, 2021
  • (9) View All
Reviewed Nov. 2, 2020

Quiet and peaceful

Great campground with hook ups for our travel trailer. Spaces are pretty close together and small, but we got lucky and didn’t have anyone around us (likely due to bad air quality). If you kayak this is a great place to camp, it’s right next to the lake. Portable toilets were kept pretty clean. They do have showers. Located right outside the town of Chester.

  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Jessicca , November 2, 2020
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Jessicca , November 2, 2020
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Jessicca , November 2, 2020
  • (10) View All
Reviewed Sep. 8, 2020

Gorgeous

this was my first time camping here & let me tell you. this place is beautiful! only downside was that the lake was really really rocky compared to other places i’ve been to. other than that, its beautiful.

Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Leslie , September 8, 2020
Reviewed Apr. 21, 2020

Beautiful Camping near Lassen Volcanic National Park

We reserved and camped at this beautiful campground back in July of 2018. It was a great experience. We pulled a 27' Travel Trailer from Livermore, CA and picked out the perfect site #94. It was the furthest RV site north of the campground and we had power, water and sewage. It was a lake front campsite so we had a nice view of the lake right in our "front yard" :-) We had a picnic table and a fire pit for our use.
The fishing was awesome, but I suggest fishing in the mornings before the afternoon winds come in as the weather cools down. We had our kayaks and it is a beautiful lake to kayak. But when it gets windy, know your limits :-)
The campground is close to the Lassen Volcanic National Park. We took a drive there for a visit and it was spectacular. 
The campground also has a great store there. It has all the camping necessities. If you are into hiking and biking, this campground has the accommodations for that activity. It also has a kid's park.  They also have cabins if you do not want to use a tent or RV.

Site#94 RV Camping - Perfect!!!
Month of VisitJuly
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Ed E., April 21, 2020
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Ed E., April 21, 2020
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Ed E., April 21, 2020
  • (13) View All
Reviewed Jun. 15, 2019

An amazing accident

At first we were nervous that we were going to end up in a random campsite that wasn’t worth the trouble of finding. The route on our gps sent us to a couple different locations before we reached our destination at the North Shore Campsite, but in the end, was worth every unknown turn up the mountain. When entering the mountain, you come across the “Rim of the world” lookout point and it has to be the most breath taking experience I’ve had in a while. The campsite has an amazing view as well, with the lake less than five minutes away. Family owned restaurants and grocery stores are conveniently located just a mile down from the campsite, allowing us to get what ever necessities we had forgotten for our camping experience. The staff was tremendous in helping us find our reserved location and was extremely friendly. As we initially drove into North Shore Campground, we were immediately recognized by Sean (the Camp Host) who helped us to find our spot and offered as much information as we needed. He was such a delight with his fun facts and humor in helping us to feel right at home. The weather was beautiful and the campsite provided a thoroughly clean area, fire pit, food storage cabinet and a well cleaned bathroom with flushing toilets, (which is more of an amenity for my girlfriend who obviously needs it more than me being a dude.) All in all it was an amazing experience and a beautiful accident. The reservation process is confusing, having to book our spot on recreation.gov, but worth the efforts and $34 to reserve a one night stay.

  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Giovanni H., June 15, 2019
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Giovanni H., June 15, 2019
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Giovanni H., June 15, 2019
  • (5) View All
Reviewed Jun. 1, 2019

Mountain chaparral

The sites are on the small side and very open. Most sites have some trees and manzanita bushes. The bathrooms have flush toilets but are old and run down. The campground is on a ridge so it is breezy but has beautiful views.

Site026
Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by mary D., June 1, 2019
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by mary D., June 1, 2019
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by mary D., June 1, 2019
  • (6) View All
Reviewed May. 6, 2019

Last minute trip, Great park ranger

So this weekend, I got a wild hair up my butt to go camping. Keep in mind I’m 8 months pregnant and kept forgetting everything at my house.

With that said, I tried Silverwood to late and KNEW that it’d be packed. I was a bit disappointed but came across North shore.

It’s a nice little getaway from the hustle bustle with decent shade(depending on site) and relatively cool neighbors (campers).

I will say it’s down the way from a community hospital so you might here some forms of traffic including a rescue helicopter but it’s not an end all.

Again this was not my first choice. We got there and found no showers but they did have running toilets and cool tap water near our site. We totally lucked out and were able to switch with a couple who wanted more privacy and shade.

We eventually stayed on site 4 which was even and open. Our tent (as pictured) was nestled amongst the few trees on our site- only downside was the constant traffic going to and from sites 5/6- a bit of a drag. I felt like it was the prefect spot given the leveled ground and the fact that we had a kid and dog posse.

But let me tell you about the ranger named Shawn. Omg, he’s a character but he’s a good one. Gave him a tip, he tried to help us not spend money unnecessarily on wood and lent us his ax to go collect nearby. Super chill, down to earth guy who was just generally a lover of nature- you could tell.

Again, no showers. A bit of noise, but manageable. Quiet hours are the usual 10-7 but we unfortunately were situated next to a group that violated both times- how can someone go to bed after 10 and manage to wake up before 7 and make noise is beyond me....but it’s also been a while since I knew what having no kids and a dog meant- lol.

Would recommend IF you reserve a decent site. The first one we originally had was 3, super hilly and not leveled. Recommend 4,5,6 if you can and even the one right next to that (assuming it’s 7). Lake is a stones throw away!

Hope that helps!

  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Janae P., May 6, 2019
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Janae P., May 6, 2019
Reviewed Jul. 25, 2018

North Shore (CA) San Bernadino NF - FS. Nice, but crowded

This is a nice site with lots of shade. There is a lovely hiking trail at the far end of the site. There is water, flush toilets, fire pits, and picnic tables. It is a short walk to Lake Arrowhead. This is a dog friendly site. Sadly the sites are small with no space between the sites. The noise restrictions after 10pm are not enforced so bring ear plugs. Expect a lot of people walking through your site.

  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Summer A., July 25, 2018
  • Review photo of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor by Summer A., July 25, 2018
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  • (7) View All
Reviewed Jul. 20, 2016

Pleasantly surprisedI

To be honest, this site wasn't our first choice. We booked late because it was a last minute trip and couldn't find other availability closer to big bear. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised and will be going back in a month. The site was fairly large. We fit four tents in our one space and could have easily added more. There were plenty of trees in the area for shade or hanging a hammock. Bathrooms were relatively clean (for a campsite) and water was easily accessed. Lake arrowhead isn't a public lake so it's a bit of a drive to do any water activities, but there was a close offroad trail. Not my first choice in the area, but a good back up when big bears all booked.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the elevation of North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor is located at 4535 feet.

  • What is the max vehicle length at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor allows vehicles up to 26 feet.

  • Are fires allowed at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    Yes, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, fires are allowed at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor, although make sure to check current fire restrictions in the area.

  • Does North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor have wifi?

    Yes, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor does have wifi.

  • Is there cell phone reception at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    According to campers on TheDyrt.com, Verizon signal is unknown, AT&T is good, and T-Mobile is unknown.

  • How hard is it to get a campsite at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    Some campers book as far as 6 months in advance, so on high-demand weekends it can be very difficult to get a campsite at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor. If you want to get a last-minute campsite at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor, try setting up a text message Alert atTheDyrt.com/alerts

  • Why is it so hard to get a campsite at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor?

    There are 22 campsites at North Shore Campground - Lake Almanor and over 80 million Americans who camp! Try snagging a cancellation by setting up a text message Alert atTheDyrt.com/alerts