Cold Springs Campground - Boise NF (ID)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cold Springs Campground is one of four campgrounds along Idaho's State Highway 55, next to the North Fork of the Payette River. This area is a popular location for river rafting trips and camping. This campground rests at 3,878 feet. Keep reading
Recreation
The North Fork of the Payette River is a very popular location for expert kayaking. Whitewater rafting is nearby on the Main and South Fork sections of the Payette River. Anglers will find good to excellent fishing for whitefish and rainbow trout.
Facilities
This campground has five sites situated as a group area, each with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided. Because of its proximity to the highway, some noise from passing traffic is to be expected.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a scenic canyon just above Highway 55. The mountains are forested with a mix of ponderosa and lodgepole pines and shade is plentiful within most of the campground. Summer days are warm, reaching 80-90 degrees; nights are cooler.
Nearby Attractions
Near the boat and kayak launch of the Payette River.
What the agency tells you
Idaho OHV Safety Message http://www.recreation.gov/marketing.do?goto=/safety.htm
Click here for more information on the Boise 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.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Check-in Time is 2:00pm and Check-out time is 12:00pm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 12 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets are provided. Because of its proximity to the…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Water sports
- Night sky · 439th 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
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
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | GS01 | group standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 163 ft | $120 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Swinging BridgeBoise National Forest · 1.6 miBig Eddy CampgroundBoise National Forest · 1.9 miTie Creek CampgroundBoise National Forest · 9.3 miHollywood CampgroundBoise National Forest · 9.8 mi
EastsideBoise National Forest · 10 miCold Springs Campground is located in southwestern Idaho, 41.5 miles north of Boise. Take State Highway 55 north to Banks (35 miles). Proceed north on Highway 55 (6.5 miles) to campground on westside of highway. Watch for recreation signs.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Smiths Ferry, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°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
Cold Springs Campground - Boise NF (ID) 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 →