Bad Bear Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $20–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Bad Bear Campground is located 48 miles northeast of Boise, Idaho, in the scenic Boise National Forest on the Idaho City Ranger District, along Highway 21 at an elevation of 5,100 feet. Wildlife and summer wildflowers are abundant. Historic Idaho City is just 11 miles south. Mores Creek runs adjacent to the site, offering whitefish and rainbow trout fishing. Highway 21, also known as the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, snakes along Mores Creek to Mores Creek Summit, Gold Fork, and Banner Ridge with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Numerous trail opportunities are in the area, offering hiking, biking, horseback riding, and ATVing. In winter, the area becomes a playground for backcountry skiers and snowmobilers.
Facilities
This campground contains 5 single sites that can accommodate up to 6 people each, and one double site that can accommodate 12. Picnic tables and fire rings are provided, and most sites also have lantern hooks. The site is in an open area with shade in all sites. Vault toilets are provided. Parking spurs are paved. Due to its proximity to the highway, some noise from passing traffic is to be expected. No trash service. Pack-in-pack-out. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (208) 392-3700. Nearby Attractions
What the agency tells you
Please click here for further information about the facility and recreation opportunities in the area.
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Water from hand pump is tested monthly for contaminants and will be abruptly shut off if not currently potable. Please plan accordingly with your own water supply in case of a shut off during your stay.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Reservations cancelled last minute due to weather or smoke conditions will not be refunded unless campground is closed to the public
No trash service: Pack-in-Pack-out
Campfires are allowed in fire rings ONLY, unless fire restrictions are in place. Contact Idaho City Ranger District for updates regarding fire restrictions.
Sites 1, 5 and 6 are adjacent and within close proximity to Highway 21.
Sites 2, 3, 4, and 5 have direct access to creek.
Closest cell service is in Idaho City (approx. 10 miles) or Mores Creek Summit (approx. 5 miles).
Sites 4 and 5 are tent only- NO TRAILER ACCESS
For questions regarding the campground, please contact the Idaho City Ranger District at 208-392-3700.
For questions regarding reservations and refunds, please contact Recreation.gov customer service.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 2 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 6 of 6 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 5 of 6 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Fishing
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 458th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$40 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 6 mapped sitesAll 6 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 6 of the 6 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 4 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 115 ft | 212 ftMores Creek | 143 ft | $20–$40 |
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 164 ft | 169 ftBad Bear Creek | 201 ft | $20–$40 |
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 164 ft | 70 ftBad Bear Creek | 135 ft | $20–$40 |
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 17 ft | 37 ft | 122 ftBad Bear Creek | 98 ft | |
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 37 ft | 116 ftBad Bear Creek | 133 ft | |
| BAD BEAR CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 98 ft | 184 ftMores Creek | 142 ft | $20–$40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Edna Creek CampgroundBoise National Forest · 0.0 mi
Hayfork Group CGBoise National Forest · 0.0 mi
Ten Mile CampgroundBoise National Forest · 1.1 miEdna Creek CampgroundBoise National Forest · 5.2 mi
Beaver Creek Cabin (ID)Boise National Forest · 5.8 miWillow Creek Campground (Idaho City)Boise National Forest · 8.9 miFrom the Idaho City Ranger Station, drive north on Highway 21 for almost 10 miles, then turn left at the sign for Bad Bear Campground. Bad Bear Campground is located at milepost 48, just beyond Ten Mile Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Idaho City, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bad Bear Campground is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →