Cottonwood Creek

A great place to camp for the spring Tour De’manure bike ride.

Great was beautiful

Great weekend at Cottonwood Creek! Conveniently located and just enough off the highway to feel like you’re in the woods. Front loop sites feel bigger and have some road noise. Back loop sites tend to be a little smaller with funky or sunny layouts but road noise disappears. Clean bathrooms. Great getaway!

Actually, I had reservations for Cottonwood Creek but was advised that the water system tested positive for e-coli. I moved to the Lower Little Truckee campground which turned out to be a good move. So, my review of the Lower Little Truckee campground is positive. The camp host, Vern, was absolutely great! He truly wanted to make sure we had a good stay. The toilet gets a five star for the cleanest and odor-free vault toilet that I have experienced. (this is an important part of camping in my book). The big negative for the campsite is the ever-present yellow jackets. I'm not sure if they are there at all times of the year but they were there in full force during meal times. We ended up eating inside the tent. Bring some sort of screened enclosure and you'll be fine.
The place is beautiful. The proximity to Highway 89 wasn't as noisy as expected.

Campground is so well-maintained. Sites tend to be large and many sites are spaced far apart, with good privacy between sites. All sites have grills and separate fire pits. Close to Sierraville but also a relatively quickly drive from Truckee. No showers but pit toilets were very clean.

Wonderful campsite, campgrounds we’re immaculate and the host very cordial! Will be going again in the future!

Enjoyed the site.
Vault bathrooms are well maintained.
The botanical trail was enjoyable.
Approachable & helpful host.
Did not like the amount of wasps and black bees. Some sites also have more big black ants than others.
Overall, we would definitely return!

Had a great time at the campsite. Was quiet and peaceful. My only concern was the bees. There were a lot of bees in our campsite. It seemed like the hive was nearby the bathrooms, leaving all the bees go swarm around. Be careful out there. Slot 17 was a great spot as well!

Cottonwood Creek is an often-overlooked gem of a campground. Located a short drive to Truckee/Lake Tahoe, Webber Lake/Perazzo Meadow and the Graeagle/Sierra Buttes/Lakes areas, Cottonwood Creek is a great location to use as a jumping point to enjoy the Tahoe National Forest and east Plumas National Forest. Most of the campsites are oversized giving a little elbow room between campers. Vault toilets are clean and serviced regularly and are as good as, well, vault toilets can be! Several sites will accommodate RV/trailers. While insects are present, in our experience they are minimal. And, this campground tends to be virtually empty during the week!

There is a short trail at the back of the campground that climbs to a peak where the entrance to the Sierra Valley is visible - great one-hour hike. A nature trail loop provides information about the local trees and shrubs.

Located conveniently off Hwy. 89, the only negative to this campground is the road noise, especially on the loop closest to the highway. The sites in the back loop are a bit more protected from the noise. We find the positives of this campground outweigh this one negative.

Others may find the lack of cell phone service a second negative (we have Verizon) but a short drive to Sierraville (or one of the turnouts just a few minutes from the campground) provides enough service for checking in with the digital world back home.

We always look forward to our time at Cottonwood Creek!

Camped here many times in the past. Campground is clean and quiet and conveniently located near the Sierra Valley area with a variety of activity options. Great campground host on this last stay.