Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Gates
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 39.13327, -120.40669
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 — Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 0068 (Coyote Spring), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 0068 (Coyote Spring), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 1 – Dec 31. That season ends after Dec 31.
MVUM record for FR 0068 (Coyote Spring): “04/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; 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 Gates
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,300 ft.
Fire & smoke — around GatesNIFC · 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 Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater8 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- PPropane12 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- DDump13 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- OOutfitter14 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- AAir-up35 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Gates
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,300 ft
Ground slope
6.7% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
39.13327, -120.40669
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMiddle Fork American River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townSunnyside-Tahoe · ~12.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~8.5 mi
- FuelShell · ~12.6 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~12.2 mi
- Dump station~13.4 mi
- GroceriesAlice's Mountain Market · ~10.3 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~16.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicUrgent Care · ~18.2 mi
- HardwareSwigard's Ace Hardware · ~14.3 mi
EV charging — from Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.2 mi straight-line NW — Soda Springs, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach13 within 25 mi · 87 within 50 · 318 within 100 · 920 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS14.2 mi — DC CORRIDOR LUCKYS SS DC1, Soda Springs
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.2 mi — DC CORRIDOR LUCKYS SS DC1, Soda Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.4 mi — Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort, Olympic Valley, CA (at a public site) · EVRANGE · J1772 · 12 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley, 10.1 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only; see valet for access · AFDC lists it “Variable fee”
- 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 322834 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletGates · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCoyote · ~0.3 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomFrench Meadows · ~0.4 mi S · USFS
- Flush restroomLewis · ~0.5 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Gates · Tahoe National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Middle Fork American River as a perennial river, under 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 6.7% — 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Gates elsewhere
Other camps near Gates
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Coyote~0.3 mi · fee
- Lewis~0.5 mi · fee
- Ahart~0.9 mi · fee
- French Meadows~1.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Gates
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Gates are set by Tahoe National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Gates
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 2026-08-22: $82 per night for the whole GROUP site at the 25-person unit and $165 per night at the 75-person unit -- this is a group campground and the forest publishes no single-site rate. The forest publishes it as Gates Group Campground. recreation.gov 232048 books the same $82 and $165 group standard nonelectric. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/tahoe/recreation/gates-group-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 Gates
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 — Gates
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Fire rules & restrictions →Reading your camp page →All field notes →