Big Hank
1Heads up1 fire 49 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 30All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big Hank Campground is located along the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River in Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Shore fishing is a large draw, along with local hiking and biking trails. The campground also provides an excellent base camp for hunters during season. Wildlife like mule deer, moose, osprey and calliope hummingbirds are often spotted. Keep reading
Recreation
Tubing on the river is a popular summertime activity, as is cutthroat fishing. Whitewater rafting enthusiasts enjoy the class I-III rapids down the river. Hiking, biking and horseback riding trails are a short drive away. Highlights include trails to Centennial Falls, Shadow Falls and Settler's Grove of Ancient Cedars.
Facilities
Big Hank Campground offers about 30 spacious campsites for tent camping. Drinking water from hand pumps, vault toilets, picnic tables and established fire rings are among the conveniences offered. Roads and campsite parking spurs are paved.
Natural Features
Big Hank is in a heavily wooded area on the banks of the Couer D' Alene River and Big Hank Creek. At 2,800 feet elevation, the campground sits on the Big Hank Meadow.
What the agency tells you
Extra Vehicles: One vehicle is included in your single campsite fee. Each additional vehicle will be charged a per day fee. If that fee is not paid with your reservation, it will be collected on site (cash or check only). Maximum two vehicles per site.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating
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 will be given to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
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.
There are no electric site hook-ups at this facility
First-come, first-serve sites may be available
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 30
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…camping. Drinking water from hand pumps, vault toilets, picnic tables and established fire rings are among…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…30 spacious campsites for tent camping. Drinking water from hand pumps, vault toilets, picnic tables and…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 402nd 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
30 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 30 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. 30 of the 30 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BIG HANK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 10 ft | 142 ft | 323 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 142 ft | 189 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 125 ft | 122 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 106 ft | 264 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 106 ft | 180 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 244 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 164 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 115 ft | 160 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 115 ft | 259 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 113 ft | 156 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 113 ft | 257 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 82 ft | 169 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 82 ft | 246 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 77 ft | 239 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 77 ft | 163 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 152 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 235 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 108 ft | 141 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 019 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 96 ft | 237 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 90 ft | 158 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 021 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 235 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 022 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 68 ft | 171 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 247 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 024 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 68 ft | 172 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 025 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 83 ft | 331 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 65 ft | 332 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 027 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 65 ft | 307 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 59 ft | 227 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 029 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 170 ft | $24 |
| BIG HANK | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 48 ft | 154 ft | $24 |
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.
25 of 30 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Little Guard LookoutCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 4.3 mi
Devil's Elbow CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 4.6 mi
Spyglass Ground HouseCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 4.8 mi
Berlin FlatsCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 5.4 mi
Devils ElbowCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 5.4 miBerlin Flats Group CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 7.1 miFrom Kingston on I-90, take Exit 43 to FH-9 and drive 20 miles north to Prichard, then turn left and continue 17 miles north on FH Road 208 to campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Heron, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°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
Big Hank 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 →