Located at the base of Shasta Dam, just outside of Redding, CA, is Chappie-Shasta Off Highway Vehicle Area, along with its accompanying campground. Sash and I stayed here in April 2018 for 5 nights.
It’s a beautiful little campground, with mostly spaces for small to medium-sized RVs and trailers. We were able to find a space to park our 28 foot toy hauler, though its technically more like 33 feet if you count the tongue.
Cost is $10.00 per night, but you can get it for $5.00 with a Golden Age passport.
Not many people seem to stay here, at least not while we were there. We did see a few trailers stay for several nights, these were mostly dirt bike riders. But there were a handful of overnighters who came in the class A’s and class C’s.
The interesting thing is that enforcement is pretty lax here. It’s run by the Bureau of Land Management, but I never saw a park ranger the entire time. There’s a camp host there, but I never saw or heard from him. We had intended to stay for 4 nights, and that’s what we paid for (by dropping some cash in an envelope), but ended up staying for 5 nights. And again, no one seems to care. I’m sure you could stay without paying and no one would say anything.
There is a long and beautiful trail nearby. You can also walk up the dam. Noise from the nearby OHV area is not too bad, you don’t really hear them because they ride out for miles. It’s just when they return to camp that you hear them.
The Sacramento River, which flows from the dam, is a serene sight to enjoy. Just bear in the mind the gnats, mosquitoes, and other flying insects. But there are also bald eagles and osprey to watch too.
Chappie-Shasta OHV Campground has pit toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings. There are also water spigots, but you’re going to need one of those, “Water Bandits” that let you couple a hose to any fitting, because the spigots are non-threaded.
Verizon 4G LTE is unusable here. Absolutely zero bars. Our WeBoost was of no help either. There is no campground Wi-Fi.
One other thing worth mentioning is that to get to this campground, you must drive across Shasta Dam. It’s free to cross over, but you will have to show the guard station your ID, either direction you drive. The guard station closes at 10:00pm, and if you don’t get there by then, you will not able to get back to your camp until 6:00am the next morning.
More about Chappie-Shasta OHV campground: https://www.blm.gov/visit/chappie-shasta
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