Buffalo (Idaho)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25–$62Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5049 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Buffalo Campground is located 26 miles south of West Yellowstone, Montana and 25 miles north of Ashton, Idaho in beautiful Island Park, Idaho. Buffalo is a large campground just off U.S. Highway 20 on the banks of the Buffalo River at an elevation of 6,200 feet. Visitors love Island Park for its world-class fishing and outstanding scenery and wildlife viewing opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Island Park area is renowned for its fishing; the Henry's Fork is known as one of the nation's best fly-fishing streams. Anglers cast for rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout and Kokanee salmon. Island Park Reservoir and Henry's Lake are nearby, both offering boating, water skiing and excellent fishing opportunities. Hiking, biking, horseback riding and ATVing are popular activities. Many miles of trails are in the area, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the Nez Perce Trail. The Big Springs National Recreation Water Trail offers an approximately three-hour float or canoe trip through beautiful scenery. Wildlife, including moose, bald eagles and Sandhill cranes, are often seen along the trail.
Facilities
The campground has six loops of single and double family sites and one loop for group camping, for a total of 127 sites, many of which are reservable. The large group site can accommodate 150 people. One loop has electric hook-ups and all loops are paved. Accessible vault toilets are provided, as is drinking water and trash collection. A separate parking area is located at the accessible fishing dock and viewing platforms on the east end of the campground. Ponds Lodge is just across the highway and has fuel, groceries and other amenities.
Natural Features
Island Park is composed of two areas of extinct volcanic activity. The Henry's Fork Caldera sits inside the larger Island Park Caldera. The area is known for its dense forests of lodgepole pine, broad grassy meadows bursting with summer wildflowers and a wide variety of wildlife, including black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer, bald eagles, Sandhill cranes and much, much more. The campground lies alongside the Buffalo River, created by a large spring just 4.5 miles away. The Buffalo is a tributary of the Henry's Fork, and flows into it just 2 miles east of the campground. Brook and rainbow trout are plentiful in the Buffalo and a variety of waterfowl and wildlife frequents the river corridor.
Nearby Attractions
Mesa Falls Scenic Byway is 7 miles south of the campground. This 28-mile road leads to scenic overlooks and trails at 110 foot Upper Mesa Falls and 85 foot Lower Mesa Falls. Harriman State Park is 8 miles south. The Henry's Fork meanders through the Harriman, offering excellent fishing. Over 20 miles of trails are available, and wildlife is abundant in this scenic park. Henry's Lake State Park is 11 miles north, offering fishing, a fish cleaning station and boat ramp. Yellowstone National Park's west entrance is just 26 miles north in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. Visitors enjoy day-tripping to the park for unparalleled wildlife viewing and the beautiful and unique scenery.
What the agency tells you
Wildlife Caution
Idaho OHV Safety Message
A $7 fee for each extra vehicle will be collected at the campground
Everything else this campground posts · 4
No ATVs/OHVs allowed in the campground
This campground has first come, first served sites
Click here for more information on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 50 · 1 group
- Hookups
- 18 electric
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and all loops are paved. Accessible vault toilets are provided, as is drinking water and trash…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…vault toilets are provided, as is drinking water and trash collection. A separate parking area is…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 388th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 49 of the 50 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 16
What you actually pay
“A $7 fee for each extra vehicle will be collected at the campground” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $25–$62 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
50 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 48 mapped sitesAll 50 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 49 of the 50 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. 49 of the 50 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| B | B02 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 94 ft | 492 ft | 216 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B03 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 94 ft | 545 ft | 301 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B04 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 110 ft | 396 ft | 251 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B05 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 116 ft | 508 ft | 238 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B06 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 108 ft | 356 ft | 130 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B07 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 73 ft | 288 ft | 222 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B08 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 73 ft | 229 ft | 207 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B09 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 96 ft | 139 ft | 386 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B10 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 96 ft | 215 ft | 307 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B11 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 107 ft | 194 ft | 286 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B12 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 107 ft | 138 ft | 338 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B13 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 94 ft | 252 ft | 229 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B14 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 136 ft | 449 ft | 26 ft | $25 | ||
| B | B15 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 94 ft | 343 ft | 159 ft | $25 | ||
| C | C01 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 79 ft | 630 ft | 323 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C02 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 79 ft | 554 ft | 286 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C03 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | yes | 80 ft | 597 ft | 322 ft | $31–$62 |
| C | C04 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 80 ft | 519 ft | 275 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C05 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 120 ft | 575 ft | 234 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C06 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 120 ft | 456 ft | 119 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C07 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 48 ft | 269 ft | 158 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C08 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 48 ft | 241 ft | 205 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C09 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 102 ft | 225 ft | 137 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C10 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 65 ft | 197 ft | 316 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C11 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 71 ft | 180 ft | 219 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C12 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50/30/15 amp | 65 ft | 140 ft | 318 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C13 | standard electric | 60 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 72 ft | 334 ft | 270 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C14 | standard electric | 35 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 113 ft | 152 ft | 430 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C15 | standard electric | 60 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 107 ft | 259 ft | 305 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C16 | standard electric | 60 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 72 ft | 379 ft | 202 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C17 | standard electric | 60 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 75 ft | 405 ft | 235 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C18 | standard electric | 60 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 89 ft | 496 ft | 220 ft | $31–$62 | |
| C | C19 | type not stated | 60 ft | 15 amp | 533 ft | 181 ft | |||
| E | E001 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 367 ft | 330 ft | 818 ft | $100 | ||
| F | F01 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 107 ft | 572 ft | 1,551 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F02 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 106 ft | 468 ft | 1,486 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F03 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 104 ft | 540 ft | 1,434 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F04 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 104 ft | 441 ft | 1,380 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F05 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 82 ft | 303 ft | 1,184 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F06 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 82 ft | 278 ft | 1,262 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 122 ft | 131 ft | 1,238 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F08 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | $25 | |||||
| F | F09 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 99 ft | 213 ft | 1,332 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F10 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 110 ft | 106 ft | 1,357 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 100 ft | 207 ft | 1,430 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 112 ft | 132 ft | 1,497 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F13 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 153 ft | 145 ft | 1,653 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F14 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 118 ft | 276 ft | 1,559 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 127 ft | 300 ft | 1,682 ft | $25 | ||
| F | F16 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 118 ft | 393 ft | 1,545 ft | $25 |
25 of 50 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Buffalo CampgroundTarghee National Forest · 0.0 mi
Box Canyon CampgroundTarghee National Forest · 2.8 mi
ButtermilkTarghee National Forest · 2.9 mi
McCrea BridgeTarghee National Forest · 2.9 mi
Upper Coffee PotTarghee National Forest · 4.5 mi
Flatrock CampgroundTarghee National Forest · 5.1 miFrom West Yellowstone, Montana, take U.S. Highway 20 south for 26 miles.
From Ashton, Idaho: Take U.S. Highway 20 north for 25 miles. The campground entrance is .25 miles north of Ponds Lodge on the east side of the highway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Island Park, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 51°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 4°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
Buffalo (Idaho) is in Idaho’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Mike Simpson (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →