Bell Bay Campground
1Heads up1 fire 16 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 16All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Bell Bay Campground is a prime place to set up camp on Coeur d'Alene Lake. The upper camp loop is on a hill overlooking the beautiful lake, while the lower loop sits on a short ridge along the shoreline. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers enjoy the Bell Bay Trail, a foot path that runs for a mile around the lake shore. The lake beach offers plenty of opportunities for fishing, swimming, power boating and canoeing. Anglers enjoy the abundance of trout, salmon and panfish in the vast lake.
Facilities
Bell Bay campground offers six reservable single family sites and several other sites that are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is also a large group campground on the upper loop that can accommodate up to 60 guests. Drinking water, vault toilets and campfire rings are provided. The lower loop has two docks where boats can be moored. The walk from the docks is fairly steep but short.
Natural Features
Located in the Panhandle of northern Idaho, the campground is surrounded by a forest of Ponderosa and other mixed pines. It lies on the southeast shores of Coeur d'Alene Lake just north of Harrison, Idaho. The lake spans 50 square miles, offering countless recreation opportunities and scenic views for visitors.
Nearby Attractions
The town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on the northern side of the lake, is a popular destination. About an hour away, the area offers paddle boat rentals, ferry rides, sea plane rides and more.
What the agency tells you
Extra Vehicles: One vehicle is included in your single campsite fee. Each additional vehicle will be charged $10.00 per day. If that fee is not paid with your reservation, it will be collected on site (cash or check only). Maximum two vehicles per site.
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
SCRS & Recreation.gov policy states we will keep your reserved site until check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. If you haven't occupied it at any time during this period, your reservation is null and void and we will give it to first come first serve folks. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
The 14 day stay limit is strictly enforced. Camping for a period longer than 14 days during any 30-consecutive day period is prohibited. If you have booked back-to-back reservations, you will be asked to cancel all days after the first 14.
Electric hookups are not available
Fire restrictions may be put in place if local weather conditions are dry
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Day Use parking is NOT included in your overnight camping fee. If you choose to park in the day use, you must PAY the day use fee for the convenience of parking there.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 16 · 5 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 43 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…up to 60 guests. Drinking water, vault toilets and campfire rings are provided. The lower loop has…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…that can accommodate up to 60 guests. Drinking water, vault toilets and campfire rings are provided. The…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach, Coast
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 519th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 4
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“Each additional vehicle will be charged $10.00 per day.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $26 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
16 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 13 mapped sitesAll 16 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 16 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Lower | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $26 | |||
| Lower | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $26 | |||
| Lower | 015 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | $26 | |||
| LOWER | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 463 ft | 563 ft | $26 |
| LOWER | 003 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 214 ft | 412 ft | $26 |
| LOWER | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 155 ft | 463 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 235 ft | 263 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 235 ft | 158 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 229 ft | 190 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 223 ft | 101 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 009 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 155 ft | 313 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 48 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 282 ft | 25 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 012 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 176 ft | 224 ft | $26 | |
| LOWER | 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 650 ft | 303 ft | $26 | |
| UPPL | 001 | group standard area nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | under 10 ft | $112 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Beauty Creek CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 12 mi
Mokins Bay CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 23 mi
Shadowy St. Joe Campground24 mi
Kit Price CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 25 mi
Honeysuckle CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 25 mi
Bumblebee CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 28 miFrom Pinehurst, Idaho, take Interstate 90 west and turn south on Highway 3. Make a right on Highway 97 and continue north for 13 miles. Turn west onto Road 314 (also known as East Point Road) and continue 3 miles to campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Harrison, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 26°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Bell Bay 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 →