Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 38.98044, -120.31664
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 — Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 13N17BC (Group Loop #2), 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 13N17BC (Group Loop #2), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 13N17BC (Group Loop #2): “01/01-12/31” 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 Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,445 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Loon Lake Group CampgroundsNIFC · 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 Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- DDump11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- HHardware16 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- PPropane17 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- MMechanic18 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- AAir-up33 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,445 ft
Ground slope
6.5% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
38.98044, -120.31664
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLoon Lake · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townTahoma · ~10.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~1.5 mi
- FuelFuel · ~11.9 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~16.8 mi
- Dump station~10.8 mi
- GroceriesObexer's General Store & Deli · ~11.0 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~17.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicUrgent Care · ~22.9 mi
- HardwareSwigard's Ace Hardware · ~16.0 mi
EV charging — from Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.9 mi straight-line NE — Tahoe City, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a municipal building) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach18 within 25 mi · 90 within 50 · 356 within 100 · 1028 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS17.4 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC2, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO17.4 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC2, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.5 mi — Tahoe Tavern, Tahoe City, CA · INTERTIE · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Granlibakken Tahoe - Ski Hill Station, Tahoe City, 14.9 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only
- 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 153419 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLoon Lake Group Campgrounds · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLoon Lake Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLoon Lake Equestrian Group · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLoon Lake Trailhead · at this camp · USFS
Coming out here — Loon Lake Group Campgrounds · Eldorado National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Loon Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 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 6.5% — 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 Loon Lake Group Campgrounds elsewhere
Other camps near Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Loon Lake Equestrian Group~0.1 mi · fee
- Northshore Cg~1.3 mi · fee
- Red Fir Group~1.5 mi · fee
- Wentworth Springs Cg~2.2 mi
The unit that manages Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Loon Lake Group Campgrounds are set by Eldorado National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
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: GROUP units at Loon Lake -- $160 per night for Group #1 (50 people), $135 for Group #2 (35 people), $130 for the equestrian Group #3 (25 people). The single family sites in the same campground are $36 per night ($72 double). Extra vehicle and dump-station fees are charged but the forest does not state the amounts. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/eldorado/recreation/loon-lake-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 Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
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 — Loon Lake Group Campgrounds
Camping near a reservoir →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Getting unstuck →All field notes →