Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Silver Creek Cg
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 39.22326, -120.20273
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 — Silver Creek Cg · Tahoe National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 0089-009 (Silver Creek Cg (Cs1-8)), 0 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 0089-009 (Silver Creek Cg (Cs1-8)), 0 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 24 – Dec 31. That season ends after Dec 31.
MVUM record for FR 0089-009 (Silver Creek Cg (Cs1-8)): “04/24-12/31” 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 Silver Creek Cg
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,071 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Silver Creek CgNIFC · 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 Silver Creek Cg · 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
- PPropane1 mi
- GGrocery1 mi
- WWater1 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- OOutfitter5 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- DDump6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- ShShower23 mi
- AAir-up27 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 1 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 — Silver Creek Cg
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,071 ft
Ground slope
6.6% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~6.9 mi · Interstate 80
State
CA
Coordinates
39.22326, -120.20273
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Silver Creek Cg · Tahoe National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSilver Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townSunnyside-Tahoe · ~5.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~6.9 mi · Interstate 80
- Drinking waterWater · ~1.3 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.9 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~1.2 mi
- Dump station~6.3 mi
- Groceries7-Eleven · ~1.2 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~6.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicUrgent Care · ~5.7 mi
- HardwareSwigard's Ace Hardware · ~4.9 mi
EV charging — from Silver Creek Cg · Tahoe National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger4.9 mi straight-line SE — 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 reach28 within 25 mi · 61 within 50 · 288 within 100 · 706 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS6.7 mi — Save Mart 627 (Truckee, CA), Truckee
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO6.8 mi — Northstar - Castle Peak - Truckee, Truckee
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.4 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, 2.6 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 153419 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Silver Creek Cg · Tahoe National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSilver Creek Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGoose Meadow · ~2.5 mi N · USFS
- Portable toilet64 Acres Riverside · ~5.1 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGranite Flat · ~5.5 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Silver Creek Cg · Tahoe National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Silver Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 6.6% — 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 ~5.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak service on it. 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.
- Interstate 80 is mapped ~6.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Silver Creek Cg elsewhere
Other camps near Silver Creek Cg
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Goose Meadow Campground~2.5 mi · fee
- Watson Lake Campground~3.5 mi
- Granite Flat~5.5 mi · fee
- Head Waters Middle Fork~5.6 mi
The unit that manages Silver Creek Cg
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Silver Creek Cg are set by Tahoe National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Silver Creek Cg
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 2026-08-25: $20 per night, single site; +$5 per additional vehicle. recreation.gov listing 232884 agrees ($20), season 22 May - 3 Oct 2026. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/tahoe/recreation/silver-creek-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 Silver Creek 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 — Silver Creek Cg
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →