Booked a tent site. The campground was completely full. My fire ring was at the bumper of my vehicle, the picnic table was basically in someone else’s campsite, and I had to walk up a flight of stairs where the tent site was supposed to be. The site on one side of me looked down on top of me from 10 feet away, the RV site next to me was crammed on top of me as well. Their front porch was basically staring right at my site, like I would be there entertainment for the night.

I had planned to camp out of the back of my truck for a quick overnight stay. Lots of better options around.

It is nice that it is walking distance from Zephyr Cove. But Zephyr Cove was packed. Nevada beach was only a four minute drive away and much more spacious and relaxing.

$67, plus taxes and fees, for no services and being packed in like sardines, no thanks.

Located with convenient access from Highway 89, the campgrounds and all sites can be easily accessed by any road vehicle. Several motorcycle campers were here during my visit. The sites I saw were all pull in/back in… no pull through. Highway 89 is a two-lane highway, well paved, and plowed in the winter.

A friendly camp host can set you up with a site recommendation and as much firewood as you'd like to buy (current price was $5 for about 10 pieces).

Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring, and cooking fire enclosure (bricks covered by grate). They do not have bear lockers and the site suggests you store your food in your locked vehicle.

Sites varied in size and proximity to other campers. In mid-summer mid-week, there were less than 10 campers in the whole campground. Every week is different, but most people appeared to have reservations starting on Wednesday, so Monday-Tuesday are very light. There are first-come-first-serve sites, but the ones taking reservations seemed to book up for the weekend.

Sites near Highway 89 will hear road noise during the day and the occasional vehicle at night. Some of these are big logging trucks or diesels, so if you are a light sleeper or looking to get away from society, pick a site closer to the back. In the back, if there was the slightest breeze, I could only hear it blowing through the trees and no road noise. This was a big plus versus other sites in the area which tend to all be very close to the highway.

The campground has towering trees and most sites are very well shaded. This is a big plus versus nearby campgrounds that may have pull-through spaces but also sparse coverage. 

This site is close to civilization. About 2-3 miles North the forest ends and there is a ranger station. Another 2 miles beyond that is the town of Sierraville. The small gas station/grocery store says fuel is available 24/7, advertises propane available, has diesel, and has a modest selection of food and supplies. Definitely enough to help round out your inventory. The town has two cafes but I did not visit and can't confirm if they are still open (one said "for lease" in the Google photo). And of course, about 10-12 miles to the south is Truckee, a very full service town with restaurants, bars, large grocery stores, etc.

For hiking, a very easy 1/2 mile round-trip botanical trail is located at the south end of the campground. It is level, following the creek. Various markers highlight botanical references, but no brochure was available, so download one before you go just in case. The trail goes out about 1/4 mile and then turns back to return on the other side of the creek. It is fully shaded.

An offshoot from the trail takes you up 3/4 miles to the top of a hill overlook - very much worth the exercise and the view. You aren't 'on top of the world', but you have a good view of the valley and some nice breezes. The hike is moderately strenuous but there are plenty of opportunities to stop and catch your breath. It is very well shaded.

If you are looking to burn off a few calories, a campground walk plus botanical trail plus lookout trail loop will get you to about 3 miles total including a good uphill portion to the lookout.

This US Forest Service campground is in a longish (5 miles?) steep valley with tall stone walls on both side.

The West Fork of the Kit Carson River runs down the center of the valley and, alongside it, Highway 88. Numerous campgrounds and rustic resorts and hotels are in the area, especially along Highways 88 and 89.

The Kit Carson Campground is well less than an hour from Carson City and South Lake Tahoe, on a very well traveled road. With basic shopping, WiFi, and a few small restaurants relatively nearby, you aren’t “away from it all.” You definitely are away from the big city with beautiful skies and surrounded by a beautiful forest. But this is a super easy campground for a casual trip where you may want to cook sometimes, eat out others, drive to visit various hiking trails to some incredible views, even use as a base camp to explore towns nearby.

THE CAMPGROUNDS

-Campsites are generally open to the camp loop road, but have some good separation from each other with large trees and many large boulders.

-The camp has a camp host at the first campsite, who can be very helpful. When I visited, they sold firewood. $7 for one bundle or$18 for three bundles. $7/bundle was the same price as nearby rural stores, buy larger gas stations on the highway were $6/bundle. There isn't much wood to collect at the campsite.

-Multiple potable water spouts are available throughout the campground.

-Bathrooms were clean and well maintained.

-The entire campground is only 100-200 feet off highway 88, and the main camp loop is a well paved road - so any vehicle can access it without issue.

-Cell reception(Verizon) was very spotty. One bar, maybe two. Occasional data connection. I doubt calls would work. Texts were going through intermittently. The entire valley has poor reception, but a few miles in either direction and reception was perfect. A cafe/bar across the street has free WiFi.

-Each campsite has a large bear locker, fire ring, picnic table, parking space, and clear area for a tent. They won’t fit a large travel trailer (e.g. 25’), and most aren’t a good position for even a small driven RV or sleeping in your car… the vehicle locations tend to be off to the side. Perfect for tent camping.

-The river runs along side of the campground and there is very easy access. When I visited, the water was high enough to walk around in at knee deep. Not exactly for swimming and I didn’t see any deep swimming holes.

-The campground is at almost 7,000 feet.

THE NEARBY AREA

-There are several hiking trails in the area, but nothing intersects with the campground. If you walk 1/2 mile east on 88 you'll reach a trailhead with a short scenic hike (0.5 mi round trip) and access to other longer trails. Walking down the highway isn't great (driving would be safer), and that 1/2 trail actually comes out to the road about 1/4 mile from the campground…. safer access if you spot that entrance.

-The highway runs along the river which runs beside the campground. During the day, I could hear every vehicle, and when walking around the campground, that seemed to be the case for every campsite. This includes semi trucks, large diesel work trucks, RVs, and large commercial construction trucks who frequently use the route. At night, things quiet down quite a bit, but you’ll always be reminded that you are roadside.

-Numerous other campgrounds are in the area. This includes yurt rentals, rustic resorts, USFS tent campgrounds, RV campgrounds and private campgrounds. This isn’t a bad thing- but just a head’s up that you aren’t in some remote secluded destination.

-Across the 2-lane highway from the campground is a cafe. They have three beers on tap, a bar area, a table seating area, and a small stage for live musical performances. They close at 5pm during the week, so this is likely a bit more happening on the weekend. It is part of a neighboring yurt campground.*They have free WiFi.* I don’t know about their food menu. They have some bakery items(cookies, etc.) and a very basic store with some limited camping supplies. It is a 30 second drive to the cafe, and the walk is very short, but you do have to cross a bridge that doesn’t really have a good sidewalk- I would be very nervous with young kids in tow.

-About 1 mile away is a larger restaurant affiliated, I think, with the same resort. It is west along Highway 88.

-There are several “resort hotels” a few miles further away than that, and the town of Merkleeville is about 5 miles east on 88 and then 6 miles south on 89. The town has a brewery (closes several days a week), full rural general store catering to campers with lots of camping food, wine, beer, alcohol, and a good range of general campground supplies. The town also has a cafe with good coffee and a selection of food.

CAMPSITE 8

-I stayed in campsite 8. The pad for the tent is*super* private, at the very back of the site with three enormous boulders providing lots of separation. The fire pit/ bear locker/ picnic table section has several boulders creating some privacy, but you can see through to the adjacent site and the host site is on the other side… your vehicle will most block that. You can easily peak between the boulders to see the camp look road, but you aren’t right up against it. There was virtually no vehicular or pedestrian traffic on the loop road.

This campground is super convenient - not more than a 3 minute drive from Highway 80 on a well paved Eagle Lakes Road.

The campground sits directly below Highway 80… as in, you can look up and see the cars from some campsites, and hear the cars from many campsites. Multiple high power lines run along the other side of the campground.

The South Yuba River runs alongside the campground, providing several good swimming holes, some rocky shores, a small waterfall, and some short stone walls alongside the river.

Sites are placed fairly close together. Free firewood was cut and piled at various locations - not sure if this is unusual or common. Potable water is available from taps scattered around the camp. Parking is adjacent to each site, and many spaces are big enough for a vehicle (car/truck) but not much more.

Boca Reservoir can be accessed quickly and easily from Highway 80, just north of Truckee. Access is via paved road, but an additional portion of the reservoir may be accessed by dirt road (easy, flat dirt road).

Water levels are down quite a bit - the concrete ramp is many feet from the water's edge. The good news is that there are multiple access points where you can drive down to the water's edge to insert your small boat (kayak, canoe, jet ski). There is one steeper spot by the dam that allows larger hulled boats, but I'll call and check on its status before banking on that.

Stampede Reservoir is just 5 miles further norther, and Prosser Reservoir is just a couple miles to the west. In terms of size, Boca is in the middle, with its larger brother to the norther offering more access points and attracting larger crowds.

When the winds pick up (as the do in the mountains), the wind tends to come from the south to east.

Many camp sites are spaced well apart from each other, while others are side by site. Some have awesome views overlooking the water from hilltop (now, with water levels down, even higher!). A few hiking trails are in the area.

The spinoff from Boca Reservoir goes into the Little Truckee River at a spot that is popular for whitewater kayakers. It isn't an overly technical area, but they seem to be having fun.

Campgrounds are quite at night and all facilities were clean and well maintained.

THE CAMPGROUND

The campground is great. Many sites have lots of space between them, while a few are side-by-side with just a vehicle parking space separating them. Each has a level, wood-bordered dirt/gravel pad set up for a tent - usually placed in as quiet/remote corner of the site as possible. Each has a picnic table, some type of fire pit (some have a metal ring with nice flipping grate, some are just a circle of large stones), and some type of cooking setup (some have a standard campsite charcoal "grill" while others have a metal table to set your cooktop on.

Very quite. Only noise is campground noise and one infrequently trafficked dirt road nearby (see below).

Campfires are allowed. If you drive in from the south (via Verdi), there is currently a designated area to collect firewood - it is scheduled for a prescription burn and you can pick up any wood from the forest floor - bring an axe and saw.

I visited mid-week during peak July season - there were two other campsites occupied (out of 20 total).

The campsite is in the middle of Dog Valley. The area is used for off-road recreation, so you may run into a few off-road buggies or trucks, and some may stay at the campground. But most stay in other "dispersed" camping, and there aren't nearly as many vehicles as you might see, for example, in a Nevada dunes off-road park.

The Crystal Mine is nearby… quick drive, bit longer walk. I didn't find many walking trails in the area, but may have missed them.

Verizon cell service picked up one bar, intermittently. Enough to get out occasional status update texts and check the weather, but not enough to be able to read stuff off the internet unless… you…. are…. really…. really… really… patient. If you hike up the hill at the nearby Crystal Mine, Verizon gave 2 bars and 5G… you are line of sight to Cold Springs. 

There is basically no radio reception at the campground, but one AM station came in during the drive.

There are two 'vault' toilets, both of which were clean and well maintained… no real odor, no spiders, etc. I saw one water spigot but it required a keyed handle to open so it was inaccessible … no other sources of water (potable or otherwise) at the site.

Trash cans are provide. No food/bear lockers provided (bear-safe food storage not required … but always a good precautionary measure).

I give it four stars because it is a good campground, and may be a good base for off-roading or mountain biking, but doesn't have many major sites nearby (hiking trails, rivers, lookout points, etc.) and I didn't find a variety of hiking trails nearby (a major one does run through the general area). Would be tough to keep kids busy, but great for a 2 day getaway for a couple.

Ok… let's talk THE ROAD….

The road is one of the reasons this site generally isn't too packed. There are two main ways in…

From The South (Verdi)

This is the roughest path. It has a fairly good incline and then decline into the valley, so I can only speak to my summer experience, but I suspect this may present a challenge for winter/wet driving.

For this route, you will spend 8.5 miles on a dirt road. I'd estimate this road is 10% "standard country dirt road, flat, fairly level, no major ruts, drivable by any vehicle at 25-30MPH." About 75% of the road is "unmaintained hill road, where you have to hug one side or another to avoid 6-inch+ ruts, loose rocks up to 5" in diameter, passable by a 2-wheel drive vehicle with reasonable ground clearance and not concerned about rocks on the paint, driving 10-15 MPH." The remaining 15% still probably doesn't require 4-wheel drive, but could benefit from it, involves going 5MPH to navigate deeper ruts or 'potholes'. The entire route is totally 100% passable by any truck/Jeep, even 2-wheel drive, driven slowly and carefully at times. Subarus would be fine. I *think* a standard sedan could make it, but you run a very good chance of bashing in the underside of your car… it is doable and I saw a little hatchback do it, but I personally wouldn't recommend.

From the North (Cold Springs)

For this route, you will spend 10 miles on a dirt road.

The first 3.3 miles (about 33%) is "standard country dirt road, flat, fairly level, no major ruts, drivable by any vehicle at 25-30MPH." Very easy driving. About 65% is "unmaintained hill road, where you have to hug one side or another to avoid 6-inch+ ruts, loose rocks up to 5" in diameter, passable by a 2-wheel drive vehicle with reasonable ground clearance and not concerned about rocks on the paint, driving 15 MPH." The remaining 2% is the harder road, as described above… just a few specific spots/turns, not long sections.

This north route is easier, but either way you go, there will be tougher sections.

To be fair - this isn't "off-roading." There are no boulders or 'technical' challenges. It is just an unmaintained (or rarely maintained) dirt road that has ruts, especially in uphill/downhill areas where the water runs across the road. Definitely not just a 'country dirt road', but a more typical mountain backroad.

Pictures below show the most common sections - 75% of the south path and 66% of the north path look like that or a little bit worse. The pictures aren't the worst sections - just more of the 'typical' road you can expect for most of the way.

Final comment: All of the above is about dry, summer driving. After rains, when the ground is wet, or in the winter - could be a very different experience.