Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Frenchman Family Cg.
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 39.90478, -120.17420
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 24N46X (Big Cove Cg), 20 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 24N46X (Big Cove Cg), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 24N46X (Big Cove Cg): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Frenchman Family Cg.
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,646 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Frenchman Family Cg.NIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel10 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- HHardware16 mi
- @Mail16 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- +Urgent care25 mi
- MMechanic25 mi
- WWater29 mi
- DDump29 mi
- OOutfitter29 mi
- PPropane30 mi
- AAir-up30 mi
- ShShower34 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 29-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 10 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Frenchman Family Cg.
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,646 ft
Ground slope
5.8% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.4 mi · main line
State
CA
Coordinates
39.90478, -120.17420
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFrenchman Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townChilcoot-Vinton · ~7.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~10.1 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~29.7 mi
- Dump station~29.1 mi
- GroceriesHallelujah Junction Market · ~11.6 mi
- PharmacyLoyalton Pharmacy, Barber, Haire Faire · ~16.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicATS Physical Therapy · ~24.9 mi
- HardwareSierra Valley Home Center · ~16.2 mi
EV charging — from Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.0 mi straight-line SW — Caboose Park - Portola (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 30 within 50 · 131 within 100 · 382 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)29.3 mi — Verdi, NV - Tesla Supercharger, Verdi
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO39.8 mi — DC CORRIDOR TRUCKEE DC1, Truckee
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)24.1 mi — Silver Lake Apartments, Reno, NV · OpConnect · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Chalet View Lodge - Tesla Destination, Graeagle, 20.5 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — The Top Story, Loyalton, 16.2 mi · J1772 · hours: 8am-11pm daily; guest use only; Also accepts Venmo · AFDC lists it “$20 per session” - Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 357432 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomFrenchman Family Cg. · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBig Cove Family Cg. · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCoot Bay (Fishing & Picnic Site) · ~0.7 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletFrenchman Lake Picnic Area · ~0.7 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Frenchman Family Cg. · Plumas National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Frenchman Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 5.8% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~5.4 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Frenchman Family Cg. elsewhere
Other camps near Frenchman Family Cg.
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Spring Creek Family Cg.~0.7 mi · fee
- Ross Camp~0.8 mi
- Conklin Park Family Cg.~1.1 mi · fee
- Chilcoot Family Cg.~2.3 mi · fee
The unit that manages Frenchman Family Cg.
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Frenchman Family Cg. are set by Plumas National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Frenchman Family Cg.
Stay limit
14 nights (14 day limit)
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-20: $38 per night, single site; $5 per night per additional vehicle. recreation.gov confirms $38 for the 2026-05-22 to 2026-09-06 season. Our pin sits 0.73 mi from the coordinates printed on the forest's Frenchman Campground page. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/plumas/recreation/frenchman-campground.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Frenchman Family Cg.
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Frenchman Family Cg.
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Picking a spot →All field notes →