Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFee
South Yuba Recreation Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 39.33875, -120.97170
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 →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at South Yuba Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,498 ft.
Fire & smoke — around South Yuba Recreation AreaNIFC · 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 South Yuba Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- +Urgent care2 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- AAir-up10 mi
- DDump20 mi
- PPropane32 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — South Yuba Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
2,498 ft
Ground slope
57.5% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
39.33875, -120.97170
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around South Yuba Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureKenebec Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townBlue Tent · ~2.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.6 mi
- FuelChevron · ~6.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~19.8 mi
- GroceriesThe Country Store · ~3.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~7.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicSierra Nevada Memorial Hospital · ~8.6 mi
- HardwareSierra Timberline · ~9.0 mi
EV charging — from South Yuba Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.4 mi straight-line SW — CEC CORRIDOR GRASSVALLEY DC1, Grass Valley, CA · ChargePoint Network · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 100 within 50 · 344 within 100 · 979 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO8.4 mi — CEC CORRIDOR GRASSVALLEY DC2, Grass Valley
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.5 mi — Expanding Light, Nevada City, CA (at an inn) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 201178 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around South Yuba Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomS Yuba Cg -Toilet Lower · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomS Yuba Cg -Toilet Upper · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomS Yuba Cg -Day Use Toilet · ~0.2 mi N · BLM
- RestroomS Yuba -Edwards Crossing -Toilet 10 · ~0.9 mi SW · BLM
Coming out here — South Yuba Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Kenebec 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 57.5% — steep. 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 South Yuba Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near South Yuba Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Kanaka Creek~5.8 mi
- White Cloud~6.8 mi · fee
- Burlington~9.1 mi
- Willow Creek~9.5 mi
The unit that manages South Yuba Recreation Area
South Yuba Recreation Area is in the Mother Lode Field Office, Central California District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — South Yuba Recreation Area
Fee note
Per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "$15.00 / site / night" https://www.blm.gov/visit/south-yuba-recreation-area
Source
Bureau of Land Management 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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | Fee 2026-09-19: $15.00 / site / night -- page says "$15.00 / site / night". Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/south-yuba-recreation-area (worker_W, figure verified on that page).
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 South Yuba Recreation Area
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — South Yuba Recreation Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →