Johnson Bar Group Site
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 10 mi
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Johnson Bar Group Site is situated in a large, open field along the Selway River. The site is perfect for gatherings of up to 100 people, with room for tents and RVs. The site offers access to many recreational activities and sightseeing opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Selway River is a destination fly fishing experience for cutthroat and rainbow trout and is also well-known for whitewater rafting. Several trailheads for hiking and biking are accessible from Selway River Road and lead into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. Johnson Bar offers beach and boating access.
Facilities
The accessible group site can accommodate a maximum of 100 people. It is equipped with a campfire circle, two smaller campfire rings, picnic tables and drinking water. Vault toilets are adjacent to the site, and groups of 25 or more are required to rent 1-3 portable toilets. Individual campsites are located on either side of the group site on a first-come, first served basis.
Natural Features
In the heart of north central Idaho, rugged peaks, deep canyons, dense forests and remote wilderness comprise the Nez Perce National Forest. Due in large part to dramatic elevational differences, the forest supports a wide variety of vegetation, from cedar groves to desert ecosystems. Johnson Bar is located in the Selway Wild and Scenic River Corridor, an area known for its rugged natural beauty and wildlife.
Nearby Attractions
An 11-mile sightseeing drive from Lowell to Selway Falls offers visitors opportunities to appreciate the pristine beauty of the Selway Wild and Scenic River and picturesque Selway Falls. Johnson Bar is near the Fenn Ranger Station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
What the agency tells you
There is no cell phone service within the campground; the nearest town with reception is Kooskia, ID, 30 miles away.
Click here for more information about Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
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
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets · Portable Toilets
- “…rings, picnic tables and drinking water. Vault toilets are adjacent to the site, and groups of 25 or more… / …of 25 or more are required to rent 1-3 portable toilets. Individual campsites are located on either side of…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campfire rings, picnic tables and drinking water. Vault toilets are adjacent to the site, and groups…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 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.
| AREA JOHNSON BAR GROUP SITE | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 272 ft | 295 ft | $40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
OharaNezperce National Forest · 2.4 miO'Hara CampgroundNezperce National Forest · 2.5 miRace Creek CampgroundNezperce National Forest · 3.0 miRackliff CampgroundNezperce National Forest · 3.4 miWild Goose CampgroundClearwater National Forest · 3.8 miJohnson Bar Group Site is located 4.5 miles east of Lowell, ID on Forest Road 223 (Selway River Road). The group site is between the paved road and the river.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Elk City, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 26°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Johnson Bar Group Site 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 →