Cottonwood Campground

Well-kept National Forest campground with two loops of paved pads and shady sites featuring picnic tables, and fire rings. Various sized spots from small tent-only to large rigs. There is a hiking trail near site 10 that goes to an overlook. No cell service at all. Camp host was very friendly.

The campground is situated at about 5600 feet altitude along highway 89 a few miles south of Sierraville. The campground is situated within a stand of Jeffery pines and firs, so most sites are partly or wholly shady. Our site did get enough sun to recharge our batteries from our solar panels to 100% every day. The road into and through the campground is easy to navigate while pulling a trailer. There are plenty of large sites that can take a RV of longer length (say 30'). There are also several sites that will just barely fit a Toyota Prius. This is a typical forest service construction, while the pads are paved, this was years ago, so are somewhat eroded along the edges. So basically these pads are 12 feet or less wide. Most pads are workably level with some leveling blocks. Most all campsites are pretty large and spread apart.

The campground is adjacent to Highway 89. The route is somewhat busy during the day but goes quiet at night. We arrive in mid June on a Wednesday to snow falling. It got progressively clearer the following days then rained on Saturday. The campground was never more than 10% full. The other campers were mostly folks like us, retired, or want to be retired.

The bathrooms are vaults, but they were cleaned and serviced every day. The water spigots were threaded, a positive for those that which the fill their water tanks. The water quality is very good.

It's obvious someone wanted this campground to be more than a transitory camp. There is a nice nature hike trail located at the top of the campground and also a vigorous hike to an overlook that has expansive views of the Sierraville valley. The campground did have a host. While they suggest there's fish in the nearby streams, I doubt most would have any luck so a drive is needed for that sport.