Three California national forests, three different camping limits, and two of them are annual

The camping stay limit on a national forest is not 14 days everywhere, and on some forests it is not a rolling limit at all. It is a number a forest supervisor signed, and three neighboring California forests currently run three different ones. We read all three signed orders on September 8, 2026.

Here is what they say.

Sequoia: 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period

Forest Order 0513-25-03, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027, prohibits “Camping for more than 14 consecutive days within any 30-day period anywhere on National Forest System lands within the Sequoia National Forest.”

This is the version most people picture. It resets. Camp 14, move off, come back later in the year.

The order has a second prohibition worth knowing: “Parking or leaving a motor vehicle or trailer in one place for more than 14 days within any 30-day period.” Leaving the trailer parked while you drive out for a week does not hold your spot legally.

Plumas: 30 days for the entire year

Forest Order 05-11-25-01, effective June 24, 2025 through April 30, 2027, prohibits three things: camping longer than 14 days “within a calendar year” in any developed campground per ranger district, longer than 14 days “within a calendar year” in any dispersed campsite per ranger district, and “Camping for a period longer than 30 days total within a calendar year.”

Plumas has three ranger districts: Mount Hough, Feather River and Beckwourth. Fourteen days of dispersed camping in each is 42 days, but the forest-wide cap is 30. You cannot use the full per-district allowance across all three. The order also limits a site to eight people and two vehicles.

Eldorado: 10 days a year, dispersed

Forest Order 03-25-08, effective October 17, 2025 through October 16, 2028, prohibits camping “In any undeveloped location within one Ranger District for a period longer than 10 days during a calendar year,” and 14 days a calendar year in a developed campground per district. Desolation Wilderness, Mokelumne Wilderness and the Pacific Crest Trail through the forest are carved out of the dispersed limit.

Ten days a year, per district, is a long way from what a search result will tell you.

Why they can differ

All three orders cite the same authority: 36 CFR 261.58(a). That regulation prohibits camping longer than an order allows and names no number, which we went through in August. The supervisor’s signature supplies the figure, so it changes at a forest boundary and sometimes at a district line.

That also means these three numbers tell you nothing about the forest next door. We are not going to extrapolate, and neither should a forum post.

Before you plan a long stay

Pull up the alerts page for your forest at fs.usda.gov and look for an alert with an order number on it. All three of these orders publish their full signed text on the alert page, so you can read the actual prohibition rather than a summary of it. Then read the sign at the road junction and the kiosk when you arrive: the posted order and whatever the district ranger tells you beat this page or any other website.

If you are starting from a state rather than a forest, the California free camping page and the national forests hub are the places to begin.