U.S. Forest Service · Kaniksu National Forest · MT

Bull River Pavilion

ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 10 opens May 10.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
60 ftLongest rig
2,230 ftElevation
128 ftWater · Bull River
26.2 miSW of Libby, MT
80%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices

In the agency’s own words

Bull River Pavilion offers an excellent view of the Bull River and surrounding forest. It's located right in the thick of a variety of recreational opportunities and provides a large group with the perfect place to picnic in northwestern Montana. Keep reading

Recreation

The rivers give visitors ample opportunity for fishing, swimming and boating. Large and smallmouth bass, perch, rainbow and brown trout and squawfish can be found in the clear, cool waters. Boating, sailing and water skiing are also popular activities on the reservoir. Visitors enjoy tours of the Noxon Rapids Dam, which is located less than 10 miles southeast of the pavilion. It is an earthen, gravity-type, hydroelectric dam that has been in operation for more than 50 years.

Facilities

The accessible pavilion can accommodate up to 100 people, has space for up to 5 camping vehicles and approximately 7 single vehicles. A camping unit is defined as a car, truck motor home or bus with a towed boat trailer or car. Remember, do not block traffic in the parking loop to maintain access for emergency vehicles. Electricity is available within the structure. It is also equipped with picnic tables, campfire rings and grills. Accessible vault toilet and drinking water are provided. A camping vehicle is defined as a car, truck motor home or bus with a towed boat trailer or car. The adjacent campground offers over a dozen accessible sites for tent and RV camping. A boat ramp, fishing dock and access to the reservoir are available within the campground. All parking surfaces are gravel.

Natural Features

The pavilion is located in a wooded area at the confluence of the Bull River and the Clark Fork River. The rivers empty into 3,200-acre Cabinet Gorge Reservoir, at an elevation of about 2,200 feet. A variety of trees forest the area, including cedar and Douglas fir. Nearby Attractions

What the agency tells you

Rule

Check-in is at 2:00 pm Check-out is at 11:00 am

Rule

Click here for more information on the Kootenai National Forest

Rule

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
1 · 1 group, 1 cabin
Hookups
1 electric
Longest rig
60 ft
Paved pads
All
Accessible sites
1
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
Drinking water
Yes
DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 1 of 1 campsite records, WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 1 campsite records
Boat ramp
Yes
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: counted from this campground’s own campsite records, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Reservoir, River
Boating
Fishing
Water sports
Wildlife viewing
Night sky · 370th darkest of 501 in MT
Bortle 2
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 10, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 10, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay7 nightsthe facility record
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Mon, May 10 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 10

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
These are next season’s rates, May 10, 2027 to Sep 30, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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 · 4

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Group1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes a
AREA BULL RIVER PAVILION1group shelter electric60 ftyes69 ft

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight42°Partly Cloudy
Saturday61°Mostly Sunny2% rain
Saturday Night36°Mostly Clear
Sunday59°Sunny

NWS forecast for Noxon, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 34°F, day 55°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 23°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: HERON 2 NW, MT (USC00244084), 8 miles away and at about the same elevation

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Roadless
Lone Cliff Smeads5,118 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Government Mountain10,090 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Huckleberry Mountain8,965 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 4, 2026

Who answers for this land

Ryan Zinke, official portrait

Bull River Pavilion is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Noxon, MT, 3.7 mi NW (a census designated place). Straight line.