US Forest Service · California
Sardine Peak Lookout in California. Ringed marker is this site; the other dots are the 1330 public campsites we map in California.
Sardine Peak is a forest fire lookout tower that was constructed in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is a three story enclosed tower with external stairs. Presently the top room or observation cab is the only rentable space. Sardine sits at an elevation of 8,138 feet in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tahoe National Forest, approximately 20 miles from Truckee, California. The lookout does not have electricity, water or garbage service.
Motocamp routes the vehicle you are actually in and picks up the road surface on the way. Download the state and it keeps working with no signal.
Start a 14-day trialSource: Recreation.gov, dated 2026-02-25, fetched 2026-09-07. Official listing.