South Shore Campground
October 2026
About
Overview
South Shore Campground is located next to Lower Bear River Reservoir in the Eldorado National Forest the central Sierra Nevada Mountains. It's a prime location for fishing and boating.
Recreation
Lower Bear Reservoir covers 166 acres and has 2.5 miles of shoreline. Activities include fishing, swimming, boating, canoeing and picnicking. Anglers may catch rainbow, brown and mackinaw trout. A boat ramp is located within a mile of the campground.
The Pardoe Trail can be accessed a short distance past nearby Upper Bear River Reservoir, and borders Mokelumne Wilderness.
Facilities
Each campsite comes with a picnic table and grill. One campsite is accessible, as is one of the vault toilets. Drinking water is provided.
A general store is about a mile from the campground on the northern part of the reservoir.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled in a mixed conifer forest on a hillside just above the south shore of Lower Bear River Reservoir at an elevation of 5,900 feet. Some campsites offer partial views of the lake through the trees.
A Mediterranean climate extends over most of the forest, with warm, dry summers and cold, wet winters.
Charges & Cancellations
- Recreation Fee: Recreation fees are the fees a visitor pays for things like overnight camping, a day-use pavilion, group facilities, a tour or a permit. Recreation fees vary by location and/or activity.
- Reservation Fee: A fee may be charged at the time a reservation is made to cover the cost of reservation services. This fee is in addition to the Recreation Fee and is non-refundable. Fees for camping, day use, group sites, cabins and lookouts: $8 if made on-line; $9 if made through the call center; $3 if made in-person.
- Change Fee: A service fee may be charged at the time a modification is made depending on the changes.
- Cancellation Fee: A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refunds for a cancelled reservation.
- Cut-Off Window: The latest date and/or time that you can make an advanced reservation or a change to an existing reservation. Cut-off windows can vary by location, but are typically 4 days before your arrival date. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (see Late Cancellation below).
- Late Cancellation: If you cancel your reservation too close to the start date, additional service fees may be withheld.
Amenities
Phone: 209-295-4360
Is SOUTH SHORE CAMPGROUND fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches SOUTH SHORE CAMPGROUND in CA for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching SOUTH SHORE CAMPGROUND for cancellations is the paid part.