Eldorado National Forest Dispersed Camping Rules

10 days stay limit

Counted per calendar year, per ranger district - not a rolling window, and shorter than the usual 14. Order 03-25-08 (effective October 17, 2025 through October 16, 2028) prohibits camping in undeveloped locations longer than "10 days during a calendar year" within one ranger district, with the Desolation Wilderness, Mokelumne Wilderness, and Pacific Crest Trail excepted (their own wilderness rules and permits apply); developed campgrounds are capped separately at 14 days per calendar year per district. The forest camping page states it plainly: "Maximum stay limit for camping outside of a developed campground is 10 days per district/per calendar year."

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

Forest camping page: "Visitors can camp just about anywhere in the national forest, unless specifically prohibited" - campsites must be "outside the boundary markings of developed campgrounds." A campfire permit is required for "campfires, stoves, lanterns or barbeques used outside a campground or recreational vehicle and some developed campgrounds." source

Keep your distance

Recommended: 100 ft — Forest camping page instruction, not a numbered-order provision: "When you pick your spot, make sure that it is at least 100 feet away from streams and lakes, to help protect streamside vegetation, and prevent pollution." source
Stay-close corridor rule, no distance in feet: "Keep your vehicle on designated roads and trails to prevent resource damage. Vehicles must be parked within one vehicle length of the edge of the surface of a designated road or trail." source
Area rule, no number: dispersed campsites must be "outside the boundary markings of developed campgrounds." source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

The camping page ties dispersed-camping vehicle access to designated routes: vehicles "must be parked within one vehicle length of the edge of the surface of a designated road or trail." The forest's MVUM "shows National Forest System routes (roads and trails) or areas designated for motorized travel" and is free at ranger stations.

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Order 03-25-08 - Camping Occupancy Restrictions The stay-limit order: 10 days per calendar year per ranger district in undeveloped locations (Desolation, Mokelumne, and the PCT excepted), 14 days per calendar year per district in developed campgrounds. Effective October 17, 2025 through October 16, 2028.
Order 03-24-01 - Occupancy and Use Restrictions, Desolation Wilderness No entering the Desolation Wilderness without a valid permit, with group-size limits - overnight wilderness camping requires the permit. Effective March 9, 2024.
Order 03-25-05 - Desolation Wilderness Food and Refuse Storage Restriction Possessing or storing food in the Desolation Wilderness is prohibited unless it is in a bear-proof container. Effective July 18, 2025.
Order 03-23-10 - Mokelumne Wilderness Restricted Use Standing restricted-use rules for the Mokelumne Wilderness - read before backpack camping there. Effective July 29, 2023.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.