Alpine Meadow Campground

This is a truly awesome campground. I am not always generous with 5 star reviews but this place truly deserved it. The space, the views, the peace and the world-class hiking just a few miles away.

It is a Corps of Engineers Campground and unlike most of the Forest Service campgrounds in this area it is First Come First Served. Which means as long as you don't arrive on a Friday or Saturday summer evening you will probably get in. There are 25 sites, that are a mixture of pull-through and back ins. We chose a site on the outside of the loop and the views were immense. This is the biggest back yard we have ever had. In addition to a large site with a fire ring and picnic table we had unobstructed views of the meadow and mountains.

The campground is short distance from the lovely mountain town of Truckee. We cycled to the eastside of town to visit a local brewery from the campground. There is also hiking and all the other amazing recreation opportunities at Lake Tahoe itself just a short drive away. And in the other direction Donner Lake and the Truckee-Donner area has some cool hiking too.

We had full cell signal with no booster here. There is an airport nearby but it just has small private aircraft and glider flights. No noise issues at all.

We loved our time at the Alpine Meadows Campground just outside of Truckee. The campground is a first come first serve campground. We were there a week or two after it opened for the season and it was never full...though it was filling up quite a bit the Friday before Memorial Day. We picked site 9 to have a pull thru, with some shade but enough solar to top off our batteries every day. We also had an amazingly huge backyard of the trees, meadow, Martis Creek Lake and the dam.

We paid $10 a night at the pay station with our National Parks Pass. There were clean pit toilets and water stations throughout the park. There was also water on the way out but no dump station.

We were only 5 minutes from historic Truckee and about 30 from Lake Tahoe. Absolutely awesome location! It was also very quiet besides the airport nearby...but we got to watch the gliders which was also fun.

We had awesome Verizon signal especially with the booster. We would definitely stay here again!

This was our first Army Corp of Engineers stay and we were impressed by the quality of the park and majesty of the setting in the Sierras.

We pulled into the park on a Tuesday on our way to South Lake Tahoe and had our choice of most of the camp sites. We found a terrific one (#7) that was a relatively flat pull-through with great views of the mountains and lake. While a few more campers pulled in during the day, the park was only half full that night and very quiet and peaceful. We were also impressed with the ease of access to water to fill our tank. All this for $20 a night!

Dog's Perspective: there were plenty of places to walk around and enjoy the views for all of us and Denali.

Runner's Rave: we didn't stay here long enough to explore the area on foot but saw a nice path to the lake and the traffic around the campground was also quiet enough that running on the roads appeared to be safe.

Downsides: the only downsides we found are ones we expected knowing we were boondocking including that cell service was very limited.

Overall, this was a terrific park with many great sites to enjoy the stunning setting.

We arrived here tired on a Wednesday night and based on another reviewer's recommendation went straight to spot #7. Soooo perfect! Camp spots are large, private, just the right combo of sun/shade, pines and meadows. We're big geocachers and there were a LOT of them within walking distance from our camp. We were a little concerned about being so close to the small airport, but it proved to be more charming (little putt putt planes) than annoying. Close enough to Truckee, but far enough to feel like we were out in the wilderness. Additional pros: we were only charged $10 per night because we have the America The Beautiful Senior Pass. Cons: bathrooms could have been cleaner (they were visibly clean, but smelled awful), and a dump station would have been a bonus. Other than that, we will definitely look forward to coming back.

A US Army Core Of Engineer (COE) campground. $20/ night or $10 with the America The Beautiful pass. Reservations only as of 2019. https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/247867 Now known as ALPINE MEADOW CAMPGROUND/part of Martis Creek.

Nice quiet area even though it is next to the Truckee airport. Private planes and a few smaller jets. Hiking around the area and the Martis Dam along with wildlife viewing areas through-out the Martis Valley. Minutes from Truckee and Lake Tahoe with Reno a short 30 minute drive to all major shopping.

Great cell service for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. 2-4 bars of each with speeds the the 20mbps range downloads. All DRY campsites, with fresh water available at the entrance for filling your tank. NO DUMP STATION. Vault toilets only. Fire rings, picnic tables and BBQ Grill at each site. All paved roads into park. Blacktop site pads are fairly level.

We headed here on our adventure West based on Campendium reviews. Glad we did. Site 7, as others, was available but we chose Site 8 due to our slides on a 32’ FR. Sites are recommended to 30’ but he had room left over. Camp Host was very nice when he informed us that this place is now RESERVATIONS ONLY!!’ We called reserve.gov and got hooked up for four nights as they are sold out this weekend.

Woof review. Clean lake is a short walk away and there are chipmunks everywhere.

1. The actual name is Alpine Meadows Campground, find it on recreation.gov. As of 2019 there are NO MORE FIRST COME FIRST SERVED SITES. All campers must have a reservation.
2. Check-in 'with reservation' is at 2pm and is strictly enforced. Checkout is 12noon.
3. You are allowed one RV and one vehicle per site - all wheels must fit on site pavement and must not block traffic flow.
4. Overflow (extra) vehicles park just outside the CG entrance in an unsecured dirt parking area.
5. There are only 23 sites. Site 25 is no longer used and site 11 is designated as a "volunteer" site at the time of this review.
6. This campground is located very near the Truckee Airport - if you love aviation noise throughout the day, you'll love this CG.
7. Currently, there is no campground map on recreation.gov. The map is pending. I'll add my map if allowed with this review.
8. Quiet time is 10pm to 6am. Generators are allowed
9. Pets must be on a 6' lead.
10. 30' limit on RVs (per site regs/recreation.gov).
We've camped here for many years, it's only a 1.25 hour drive from our home near Auburn CA.. We're not happy with some of the changes here, but it is what it is...

We stayed here to be close to Truckee and we're not disappointed. The camp host was friendly, the ground squirrels were fun to watch, the small lake was great for my little ones to toss rocks into, and it is shaded! There are pull through spots with nice views, but we made a reservation last minute and the only site open was #1. It wasn't a great spot, but even being right at the entrance, it was quiet. The only loud noise was the airplanes flying during the day because the campground is next to the airport.

Would recommend and stay again.

Closed for the summer (2020) due to the Covid 19 Virus.

We camped in site #20 and did not need to level the trailer! There are logs lining the roads and the campsites. There are stones circling small plants. There are bear boxes at each campsite and also bear poles for hanging food. There are fire rings and also bbqs at each campsite. The whole area was tidy! The bathrooms were very clean. It was quiet - only a few other campers. I believe there are 24 sites, including the tent sites. I would imagine this campground fills up pretty fast in the summer. It was May when we camped here and lightly snowing.
There is an airport nearby and heard one small jet engine aircraft take off in the morning.