U.S. Forest Service · Mendocino National Forest · California

Howard Meadows Campground

Has 6 developed sites and 1 vault toilet. No water.

Open nowFirst-come, first-served

Sites are first-come, first-served. Recreation.gov lists this campground for paying on site, and you may be able to pay with the Scan and Pay feature of its app.

More like this: first-come in California

1fire
active
Howard Forest Frp Rx (prescribed burn) · 41 mi away · 13 acres
Interagency incident data as of 2026-10-16
Incident details ↓

Season & status

StatusOpen
ForestMendocino National Forest
Fees$6

Mendocino National Forest recreation page ↗

Weather by month

NOAA climate normals →
Weather by month near Howard Meadows Campground40°50°60°70°80°January: 7.82 inches of precipitation, 0.7 inches of snowFebruary: 6.76 inches of precipitation, 1.4 inches of snowMarch: 5.19 inches of precipitation, 0.2 inches of snowApril: 2.81 inches of precipitation, 0.2 inches of snowMay: 1.64 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJune: 0.76 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJuly: 0.03 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowAugust: 0.16 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowSeptember: 0.20 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowOctober: 2.00 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowNovember: 4.28 inches of precipitation, 0.2 inches of snowDecember: 8.79 inches of precipitation, 0.6 inches of snowJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanuary: 42.5°F averageFebruary: 45.3°F averageMarch: 49.0°F averageApril: 52.7°F averageMay: 59.2°F averageJune: 65.5°F averageJuly: 72.5°F averageAugust: 71.1°F averageSeptember: 66.4°F averageOctober: 57.2°F averageNovember: 46.8°F averageDecember: 41.2°F average0 in2 in4 in6 in8 in10 inTemp °FInches
The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at Covelo, 14 miles from the campground at 1,413 feet, station USC00042081 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 40 inches a year. The dotted line is average snowfall, about 3 inches a year on the same inches scale.

Getting there

Coordinates39.8785° N, 122.9919° W · Directions ↗

Fire nearby

  • Prescribed
    Howard Forest Frp Rx

    41 mi from the campground · 13 acres

Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge. Call the managing office before you drive.

Supplies & services

Dump stationDump station ↗38.5 mi
RV sales & serviceRV sales & service ↗54.3 mi

Locations © OpenStreetMap contributors. Call ahead; hours change seasonally.

Limited data for this unit

No site-by-site records, no amenities, no fee schedule, no directions or photos in the Recreation.gov record. What is here comes from the agency's own listing. The rest lives there.

Checked nightly. Modules appear as soon as the record fills in.

Explore

Worth a stop

Trails nearby

Forest Service trail data →
  • 1.8 mi
    Hell Hole Canyon ↗
    10.4 mi trail
  • 3.4 mi
    Travelers Home ↗
    7.6 mi trail
  • 4 mi
    Little Buck
    0.2 mi trail
  • 4.6 mi
    Key Spot
    0.1 mi trail
  • 4.7 mi
    End of the Day
    under 0.1 mi trail
  • 4.9 mi
    Hammerhorn Lake
    0.4 mi trail

Trail and trailhead records are the Forest Service's. Distances are straight-line to the nearer trail end. Trail conditions are not tracked here.

Public land it sits in

On Wilderness Atlas →

This campground sits inside Mendocino National Forest.

Each unit is published as a centre point and an acreage rather than a boundary, so this section stands it in for a circle of the same area. Whether a campground is inside, and how far it is from one it is outside, are both approximate.

On the National Register nearby

On Register Atlas →

Guidebooks for California

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

Do I need a reservation at Howard Meadows Campground?

No. Howard Meadows Campground is first-come, first-served. Sites are taken on arrival and paid at the fee station.

Source: Forest Service

How much does it cost to camp at Howard Meadows Campground?

$6

Source: Forest Service

Is Howard Meadows Campground open right now?

Open as of Oct 16, 2026.

Source: Forest Service status

What if Howard Meadows Campground is full?

The nearest public campgrounds are Howard Lake Campground (under 0.1 mi, first-come), Little Doe Campground (1.2 mi, first-come), and Sugar Spring Campground (4.2 mi, first-come).

Source: Campgrounds nearby