Big Rock
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 27All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big Rock Campground has 28 individual wooded sites, each with a picnic table, tent pad and turnout for parking. Eight sites share a common parking area, while most other sites have suitable parking space available for small trailers and motorhomes. Water, electrical and sewage connections are not provided. Campsites are available on a first-come, first serve basis and reservations. Keep reading
Recreation
A variety of recreational opportunities exsist nearby which include; swimming, fishing, hiking, picnicking, sight-seeing and pleasure driving.
Facilities
Vault toilets.
Natural Features
The name “Big Rock” was dervied from a large prominent rock which is visable shortly after entering the campground. Big Rock campground is a developed recreation area administered by the USDA Forest Service. A fee is charged for the use of this area and is collected through a self-service pay system. The campgrounds are conveniently located near Interstate 93 in the heart of the White Mountain National Forest on the scenic Kancamagus Highway. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (802) 289-0970.
Nearby Attractions
1. East Branch Pemigewasset River 2. Upper Lady’s Bath 3. Kancamagus Highway 4. Otter Rocks 5. Greely Ponds Scenic Area 6. Franconia Falls 7. Black Pond 8. The Flume 9. Indian Head 10. The Basin 11. Franconia Notch 12. Cannon Mountain Tram 13. Lost River Road 14. Kinsman Notch
What the agency tells you
- Campsite fee includes parking for two vehicles - Additional fee of $6 PER NIGHT to be paid upon arrival for EACH additional vehicle(s) if you did not pay for the Extra Vehicle Add On.
- Must fill out Fee Envelope at Self Service Pay Station Kiosk - Post confirmation number - Pay any additional Fees (see below) - Put in provided GREEN FEE TUBE
Only 2 cars allowed to park on site; additional vehicles in overflow area.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
This campground has first-come, first-served sites.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside a hard-sided vehicle and remove all food from area after eating.
Don't Move Firewood:To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.orgfor more information.
TIPS: * Allow no more than 8 people and 2 vehicles per site and keep all equipment (including tents, tables and motor vehicles) on the graveled area. This will minimize compaction, allow low vegetation to grow, and enhance privacy between sites. * Build all fires in the ring provided. “Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” says Smoky Bear. This will eliminate unsightly charcoal spots that soil camping equipment and clothing. * Observe quiet hours between 10 PM and 7 AM. Turn off audio devices during these times and play them at a reasonable volume at all other times. See the bulletin board for the rules about operating generators. * Gather only dead and down firewood.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27 · 2 tent-only, 16 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 28 of 28 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 12 of 28 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Night sky · 10th darkest of 28 in NH
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 19 km away
- Peak color
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 · 14
What you actually pay
“- Additional fee of $6 PER NIGHT to be paid upon arrival for EACH additional vehicle(s) if you did not pay for the Extra Vehicle Add On.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
28 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 27 mapped sitesAll 28 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 27 of the 28 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.
| 1 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 151 ft | 784 ft | $30 |
| 10 | walk to | 80 ft | 992 ft | $30 | |
| 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 966 ft | $30 |
| 12 | walk to | 98 ft | 908 ft | $30 | |
| 13 | walk to | 78 ft | 703 ft | $30 | |
| 14 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 78 ft | 673 ft | $30 |
| 15 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 93 ft | 673 ft | $30 |
| 16 | walk to | 96 ft | 684 ft | $30 | |
| 17 | walk to | 96 ft | 758 ft | $30 | |
| 18 | walk to | 121 ft | 723 ft | $30 | |
| 19 | walk to | 121 ft | 840 ft | $30 | |
| 2 HOST | host pad | 40 ft | 897 ft | ||
| 20 | walk to | 124 ft | 821 ft | $30 | |
| 21 | tent only nonelectric | 76 ft | 1,049 ft | $30 | |
| 22 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 1,079 ft | $30 | |
| 23 | walk to | 63 ft | 1,167 ft | $30 | |
| 24 | walk to | 62 ft | 1,167 ft | $30 | |
| 25 | walk to | 62 ft | 1,154 ft | $30 | |
| 26 | walk to | 71 ft | 1,108 ft | $30 | |
| 27 | walk to | 71 ft | 1,037 ft | $30 | |
| 28 | walk to | 81 ft | 957 ft | $30 | |
| 3 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 110 ft | 944 ft | $30 |
| 4 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 1,041 ft | $30 |
| 5 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 63 ft | 1,064 ft | $30 |
| 6 | walk to | 66 ft | 1,067 ft | $30 | |
| 7 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 961 ft | $30 |
| 8 | walk to | 80 ft | 1,017 ft | $30 | |
| 9 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 918 ft | $30 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hancock Campground (NH)White Mountain National Forest · 2.0 mi
Russell Pond CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 5.2 mi
Osceola Vista CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 5.7 mi
Waterville CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 7.8 miPassaconaway CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 10 mi
Radeke CabinWhite Mountain National Forest · 10 miThe campground is conveniently located off Exit 32 (the scenic Kancamagus Highway) from Interstate 93.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lincoln, NH
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 3°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 Rock is in New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Maggie Goodlander (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →