Grandview Campground (Idaho)
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $31–$62Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 8All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Grand View Campground is located on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, adjacent to the Lower Mesa Falls Overlook, approximately 13 miles northeast of Ashton, Idaho. Upper Mesa Falls is within a mile. Visitors enjoy exploring the trails at the falls, viewing wildlife and hiking. Keep reading
Recreation
Mesa Falls Recreation Area offers walkways and overlooks for all to enjoy. Upper Falls has an accessible path and close-up overlook of the falls, as well as a staffed Interpretive Center. Visitors enjoy viewing the power and beauty of the falls, as well as watching the osprey and eagles that frequent the area. An abandoned railroad bed acts as a trail for hiking, biking and horseback riding from the Bear Gulch parking lot to West Yellowstone, Montana. Several entry/exit points are found along the trail. Numerous additional trails are in the vicinity.
Facilities
The campground offers seven single sites and two double sites. Picnic tables and campfire rings are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Electric hookups at all campsites.
Natural Features
The Mesa Falls Scenic Byway leads through Idaho's backcountry to the 85-foot Lower Mesa Falls and 110-foot Upper Mesa Falls, both on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. A beautiful rainbow created by sunlight passing through the mist is visible from approximately 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during sunny days at Upper Mesa Falls. The byway is home to an abundance of seasonal wildflowers. A variety of wildlife makes it home in the area, including moose, bear, deer, elk, marmots, coyotes, martens, eagles, osprey and many other small mammals and birds.
Nearby Attractions
Harriman State Park, a wildlife refuge featuring Blue Ribbon trout fishing (fly fishing, catch and release), trumpeter swans, elk, moose and various waterfowl, is located approximately 11 miles north on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. Island Park is within a short drive beyond Harriman, with outdoor activities for visitors of all ages. Hundreds of miles of hiking, biking, horseback riding and off-road vehicle trails crisscross the area. Island Park Reservoir and Henry's Lake are nearby, with boat ramps, fish cleaning stations, boating, water skiing and fishing. Yellowstone National Park and West Yellowstone, Montana, are an hour's drive away. Yellowstone offers hiking, wildlife viewing and fishing in a breathtaking natural setting.
What the agency tells you
Click here to learn more about 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.
A $7 fee with be collected on-site for each extra vehicle.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Each campsite at this campground has electrical hookups (15, 30, and 50amp recepticles)
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 8
- Hookups
- 8 electric
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire rings are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Electric hookups at all…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Electric hookups at all campsites. Natural…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 312th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 2
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
“A $7 fee with be collected on-site for each extra vehicle.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $31–$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
8 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 6 mapped sitesAll 8 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 6 of the 8 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. 8 of the 8 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Grand | 001 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 94 ft | 1,371 ft | 1,433 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 002 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 94 ft | 1,393 ft | 1,447 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 004 | standard electric | 38 ft | 50 amp | 126 ft | 1,264 ft | 1,105 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 005 | standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 1,343 ft | 1,048 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 006 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 102 ft | 1,305 ft | 930 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 007 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 102 ft | 1,223 ft | 838 ft | $31–$62 |
| Grand | 008 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | $31–$62 | |||
| Grand | 009 | standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | $31–$62 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Warm River CabinTarghee National Forest · 3.8 mi
Warm RiverTarghee National Forest · 3.8 miPole BridgeTarghee National Forest · 6.2 mi
Riverside (ID - Targhee)Targhee National Forest · 9.5 mi
Riverside CampgroundTarghee National Forest · 9.5 mi
Cave Falls CampgroundTarghee National Forest · 15 miFrom Ashton, Idaho, head east out on ID-47 (Mesa Falls Scenice Byway). Stay on the main road - it will make one big curve and head north, then cross Warm River (don't turn right onto the Fish Creek Road). Turn left at the Lower Mesa Falls Overlook. The campground is to the left with the overlook parking area to the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Warm River, ID
Typical weather
Typical May night 40°F, day 65°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 40°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August 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
Grandview Campground (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 →