Shirttail Creek Campground, Foresthill, CA

Shirttail Creek Campground is located in the American River Ranger District, Tahoe National Forest (1 hr 16 min northeast of Lincoln, CA) with an elevation of 3,970 feet. There are a total of 20 campsites. The campground is normally open from mid May to the end of October. 18 sites can accommodate RVs and trailers between 30 and 100 feet. All sites are currently reservable. Reservations can be booked up to 6 months in advance. Fees range from $24.00 to $72.00. Some amenities include swimming. Activities include biking, boating, fishing, hiking trails, floating sports.

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Campsite Reviews (66)

4.1 out of 5

5 star		50%
4 star		20%
3 star		14%
2 star		6%
1 star		6%

@MichaelS838841 · Camped on Oct 26, 2024 at Campsite #14

We stayed for two nights in late Oct. Site 14 was clean and easy to back our 26FT trailer into. Just don't drive to the campground from Hwy 80 on Iowa Hill Road if you have a motorhome or trailer due to the 15% grade and hairpin turns . Use forest Hill Road from Auburn to get to Sugar Pine Reservoir.

@JugurthaA6AB9F · Camped on Sep 27, 2024 at Campsite #30

We had a very unfortunate experience at this campsite. The hosts were rude and unprofessional, which made our stay uncomfortable. One of the hosts yelled at our kids for simply playing in an empty area of the campground that was unoccupied, and her approach felt more threatening than welcoming.When we arrived, we werent given a proper briefing about the campground rules, but the host was quick to threaten us with fines instead. The campsite was overrun with mosquitoes, flies, and yellow jackets; one of our kids was stung by a bee twice.Additionally, the bathrooms were poorly maintained. Despite the host being present at least once a day, there was no fresh toilet paper, and the unpleasant smell lingered around our campsite.Overall, our experience was heavily impacted by the hosts behavior, and we wont be returning to this campground.

@CalvinNE629D5D · Camped on Sep 12, 2024 at Campsite #30

It was great! A lot of space and very nice campground! The lake was nice and clear! Beautiful view!

@LesleyA6132678 · Camped on Sep 10, 2024 at Campsite #13

Lots of bees, bring mesh food covers. Hosts were great. Best to go through Foresthill to siie, Iowa Hill Road is scenic but best maneuvered with a motorcycle or a 4 wheel drive Jeep

@LouisP68D9153F · Camped on Jul 7, 2024 at Campsite #18

Good campground

@KimberlyH57940 · Camped on Jun 27, 2024 at Campsite #20

Despite being a double site, please note that there is only ONE bear locker available. This severely limited us on our ability to properly secure our food (Site 25 which is a triple site has 2 bear lockers).I booked this site along with site # 22 and they make a fantastic large group site! Site #22 has a nice large gathering area but it is in full sun for most of the day so we used that area for the campfire in the evenings and spent the days in site #20 which has a nice amount of shade throughout the day but not the best campfire space.If you choose to book this site without booking # 20 I would warn that you will feel close to the other group.We were able to fit a 24' 5th wheel, Truck and 2 cars on the parking strip. the parking area is unlevel front to back sloping down towards the rear.We spent a lot of time down by the lake but due to the location of the site we decided it was best to drive to the lake parking lot to bring our things down to the shore area, we then returned the vehicles to the campsite (the parking lot requires an additional fee) and walked back down. Waking down to the shore while carrying everything would have been difficult, the walk back up was at a definite incline so not an enjoyable walk when carrying anything.There is ZERO cell service here, no matter which carrier you have. Ice is a 30 minute drive back into town. There is a lot of easy to scavenge firewood to be found around the area.

@KimberlyH57940 · Camped on Jun 27, 2024 at Campsite #22

Despite being a double site, please note that there is only ONE bear locker available. This severely limited us on our ability to properly secure our food(Site 25 which is a triple site has 2 bear lockers).I booked this site along with site # 20 and they make a fantastic large group site! Site #22 has a nice large gathering area but it is in full sun for most of the day so we used this area for the campfire in the evenings and spent the days in site #20 which has a nice amount of shade throughout the day.If you choose to book this site without booking # 20 I would warn that you will feel close to the other group.We were able to fit a 32' trailer, Truck and a large SUV on the parking strip, we could have fit an additional vehicle if we needed to as well. Since this site is a pull thru it was very easy to get in and out of. The site wasn't too unlevel, we needed to bring the passenger side of the trailer up about 3 inches to level it on the parking area.We spent a lot of time down by the lake but due to the location of the site we decided it was best to drive to the lake parking lot to bring our things down to the shore area, we then returned the vehicles to the campsite (the parking lot requires an additional fee) and walked back down. Waking down to the shore while carrying everything would have been difficult, the walk back up was at a definite incline so not an enjoyable walk when carrying anything.There are 2 large picnic tables but they are placed in an L formation too close to the fire pit in my opinion. no one wants to sit on an uncomfortable bench as opposed to a comfy camp chair. due to the location about 1/2 of the area around the fire pit was difficult to place chairs around unless you wanted to be very close to the fire.

@JoettaLEB40E9E · Camped on Jun 16, 2024 at Campsite #2

Very nice and hosts were very helpful

@JamieD9248598 · Camped on May 19, 2024 at Campsite #6

Lovely lake and nice flat sites avaiable.

@CourtneyS0D67F · Camped on Oct 6, 2023 at Campsite #20

We had a great time! I recommend getting one of the double sites if you have more than one tent. We had a double and looking at the singles, they were tiny so I was glad we did as we had 3 tents and would not have fit. We went fishing and all 4 of us caught trout from shore using power bait and lures. There is bears here! Make sure you put your cooler in the bear box or your car. A bear did get into our cooler and eat a bunch of our food. It was scary watching him from a peek hole in my tent eat all my burgers! But wow what a story to tell. Beautiful campsite and lake though. Oh and youre allowed to cut all the dry wood you want for fire wood. We brought an axe and paid for no fire wood.

@CeciliaDAED080 · Camped on Sep 22, 2023 at Campsite #19

We had a fabulous time camping here. Facilities were clean. Camp wasn't a far walk to the lake. Beautiful scenery everywhere. Boat launch facilities were great. Tables, fire put, BBQ, and bear box at the site. Water spickets located nearby. We will certainly be back.

@MichelleH23163 · Camped on Sep 8, 2023 at Campsite #3

Nice, clean and beautiful. Definitely going again

@nacisab5615476 · Camped on Sep 4, 2023 at Campsite #22

Campsite 22 is a double site. We were a group of 9 and it fit 5 tents comfortably (2 large family size, 2 medium, 1 small), and could have still fit another 2 tents. The sight had 2 picnic tables, 2 grills, and 1 fire pit. The bathroom was a close walk (under a minute) but not in view from the site. There was 2 water stations near, 1 being at the bathroom. All the bathrooms were very clean and maintained. The lake was less than a 5 minute walk from the campsite and there were multiple bathrooms on the way. We enjoyed a few hours at the lake each day. It was very clean and pretty. Bring water shoes as its mostly rocks underneath. Everyone played in the water. We had floaties and tossed a football. Fortunately none of us got stung by the occasional wasp that came around every time we cooked but we did get bit a lot by the mosquitoes even though we wore repellent. We brought a netted canopy we put right over the picnic table and ate inside of it. This site had a good portion of shade with the sun draping in through the tall trees. We were able to enjoy most of the day without having to worry about sunscreen unless we went down to the water. Campsites are close together but we stayed during the week days following Labor Day weekend and only had a couple other campers who were not in view. Had we stayed during the weekend there definitely would had been people at the site right next to us very close in view and no doubt could hear everything. For that reason I would definitely not stay at this campground during a busy holiday weekend like Labor Day. Between the 9 of us we had 4 different cell providers and none of got service at all, not even walking around or at the lake. It was very nice to spend time with no one on their phones. It was an amazing family camping trip and we will definitely go back and book site 22 again.

@JenniferF67302 · Camped on Jul 30, 2023 at Campsite #1

Beautiful, clean campground. Great camp hosts!

@BryonB8592EF68 · Camped on Jul 25, 2023 at Campsite #12

This is an amazing place great camp ground, great camp host very friendly . Thank you

@EricaT6562894 · Camped on Jul 24, 2023 at Campsite #25

The site looked nothing like the pictures when we booked. We booked a triple site maximum 18 people. We only 14 with 4 tents. The only place to put the tents on flat ground was down a hill which was hard for the older folks to get up and down. There was one flat area for a small tent up closer but it was directly next the fire pit. Which was very small too. The site was too small and not much useable space. If you have a larger crowd youre better off getting site 30 and 14 which is directly behind where we were at 25. The bathrooms were kept clean and smelled great. Camp hosts were polite besides accusing us of being the rowdy crowd at 1am (we were in bed by 11). Last night there a family was so loud up until about 2am. I get it people want to have fun. But they were blasting their music. Keeping us awake. Not sure where the camp host was at that time. Water was perfect.

@SilviaHD5750C6 · Camped on Jul 23, 2023 at Campsite #19

It is the first time that I go to this camp and the truth is that I was delighted, the place is very clean and the bathrooms smell super good, he is always waiting to wash them and supply them with paper, no setbacks. simply beautiful recommended 100%

@TheresaHFE2564 · Camped on Jul 6, 2023 at Campsite #30

This year's experience was much better than last. No yellow jackets this year and the facility's manager was very friendly. This is a great swimming lake in a good location. The facility is clean and well taken care of. Looking forward to coming back!

@PaulD5437485 · Camped on Jun 23, 2023 at Campsite #9

Sites and restrooms were very clean. Camp hosts were friendly and kept the noise down at camps that were noisy after 10:00.

@WilliamA169700 · Camped on Jun 19, 2023 at Campsite #7

The camp hosts were friendly and kept the place looking great. The best the campground has looked in the twenty years we have been going there.

@JesseS1730361 · Camped on Jun 12, 2023 at Campsite #10

We like to use this campground as a shake down trip to insure the rig is in good condition. Close to home, easy to get to, up in the woods at 4000', nice lake that is most always full, fishing & water sports. Best is it is not well known and never crowded. Campground was less than half full the entire 5 days we were there. Most sites are limited in size, it is dry camping (which we prefer) so a 30' rig is pushing it for most spots, with a few sites that can manage larger rigs. Camp hosts do a great job of keeping the place clean, can't comment on the vault toilets as we don't use them. Water is available and a dump station is located on the road out, with a pay station at the boat ramp. A nice bike trail around the lake with one rough spot by the dam, the rest is paved. Lots of day use spots and trails to use. One thing! this campground is off grid! NO cell service at all. You can drive, bike, or walk one mile up hill and get service, we road our e-bikes up that hill (read very steep) each day to check in, be sure you have good brakes coming back down!!

@JenniferF67302 · Camped on May 31, 2023 at Campsite #14

Beautiful clean campground. Polite and attentive camp hosts who tried to manage the noisy late party groups.

@ShelleneLEBC31 · Camped on May 19, 2023 at Campsite #20

Family fun, kayaking, paddle boarding, bike ride or walk the trail around the lake. 3/4 of trail is paved from campsite to boat ramp near the dam, dirt trail from boat ramp over dam and around other side. Dogs are welcome. Bring shade a lot of the trees along waters edge have been cut or fallen down. The water was pretty cold still but clear and refreshing.

@DanaS6949201 · Camped on Aug 28, 2022 at Campsite #6

The first two days were fantastic. Unfortunately, before dawn on a Tuesday morning, a horrendous thundering noise woke us up. Apparently tree cutting, grinding and bull-dozing were underway. While I understand the need to manage the forest - sadly it burns as I write this comment - a message regarding this work should have been prominently posted to the website. The camp host said the information was posted, however I was unable to find the announcement. I was going to request a refund because we left a day early but did not. So many dead trees in Tahoe National Forest. It is really heartbreaking to see.

@AngelaS2475005 · Camped on Aug 19, 2022 at Campsite #27

We loved our stay but want to warn future campers: 1. If you’re coming from Sacramento, make sure you take exit 121 to go through Foresthill and DO NOT take exit 133, which is the first route on google maps. One is a nice easy road and the other is a narrow road with hairpin turns and a sheer drop off. 2. Site 27 is NOT suitable as a group site. The only reason it’s listed as a group is for the extra parking slip. There’s only one suitable space to pitch a large tent and barely any room to sit around the fire. Site 26 on the other hand has a ton of space, albeit not enough parking. We had 11 people there with room for more. Fortunately we had both sites reserved for the weekend. Bathrooms were cleaned regularly and we didn’t smell them outside (and we were literally right next door). 3. Day use parking at the lake fills up quick so go early and bring $5 cash to drop in the slot. Water was clean and refreshing. Will definitely return in the future.

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