Boyington Mill Campground sits alongside the Little Truckee River.
It’s a bit north of Boca Reservoir and south of Stampede Reservoir and has 12 campsites in a single loop around a central bathroom.
Although it was our ninth camping destination of the year so far, I’ve had Boyington Mill Campground high on my list as a place to visit for the past few months.
We headed out on the two-and-a-half-hour journey but were slightly shaken by how large and quickly the Mosquito Fire had grown in the Foresthill/Georgetown area. Exploding to 30,000 acres overnight, we would have to drive through the thickest part of the smoke to get to our campsite.
With an AQI of 500+, we made our way through Rocklin and Auburn, and the smoke was extremely thick. So thick that we had to turn off our air conditioning to keep the smoke from filling the car too heavily.
Once we made it to Truckee, the smoke cleared continually for the twenty minutes to our campsite, where the AQI luckily hovered anywhere from 50 to 100.
We almost turned back a couple times when the smoke got thick, but I’m glad we didn’t.
Experiencing the Little Truckee River at Boyington Mill Campground
Once we set up camp, we wasted no time heading out on a hike.
We were thrilled to be in site 008 in a more secluded area in the bottom left corner of the campground, which also has direct access to trails that take you out into the meadow along the Little Truckee River.
From the campsite, the Little Truckee River makes a large bend and then winds into two large meadows before coming to the base of Stampede Reservoir, the location where the Little Truckee River begins.
Ultimately, we hiked six miles out and back, and with hilarity, a gigantic herd of sheep came charging into the valley at the end of our hike. We high-tailed it out of there in fear of Pomeranian Turtle Dove getting too excited to see these sheep friends.
I had no idea sheep grazed out by the Little Truckee River.
When we got back to camp, we set up some barbless lures and fished right from camp along the Little Truckee River. After twenty minutes, we were excited to catch and land a six-inch trout. I’m unsure if it was a rainbow or brown trout, as Barrett quickly threw it back into the water.
At dark, we made dinner and used one cubic foot of hardened oak wood for a fire, lasting about three and a half hours.
Benefits of Site 008 at the Campground
One of the reasons I wanted to book site 008 at the Boyington Mill Campground is that it’s helpful with a dog to have some form of white noise surrounding camp.
Rivers seem to be the perfect solution.
Site 008 is also very close to the trash dumpster and bathroom, but not close enough to have any foreboding smells visit your camp. There’s also a 12’x12’ sand-bottomed tent pad on the site, making it an easy experience to find a spot that’s level for your tent.
With private access to the river and furthest from other campers, site 008 is the perfect choice for camping at Boyington Mill Campground. However, site 008 is a tent-only campsite and not best for RV campers, as the camping area is separated from where you park your vehicle.
The campground provides fire rings, picnic tables and bear boxes but no potable water.
