Lake Gillette Campground
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 25 mi
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- A night
- $31–$62Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 17 – October 27Open May 17 through October 27
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lake Gillette campground lies on the east shore of Lake Gillette, a popular spot for boating and fishing. Keep reading
Recreation
With plentiful trails, visitors to the area will enjoy hiking and bicycling and those looking for water recreation can access swimming and boating in nearby Gillette Lake.
Facilities
Lake Gillette campground has 14 campsites, vault toilets, drinking water and a bear proof garbage containers. The campground offers paved interior roads and parking spurs.
Natural Features
Lodgepole pine and tamarack are found throughout the campground, providing shade to many campsites. A wonderful campground for the entire family, the area offers hike-in access to Gillette Lake and Rufus Trail #148. An amphitheatre is also close and can be reached by one of the many trails.
Nearby Attractions
Gillette Lake and access to Rufus Trail for hikers.
What the agency tells you
Your reserved site will be held until check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. If you haven't occupied it at any time during this period, your reservation is null and void and will be given to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Bears and cougars frequent the area; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating.
Limited parking available; please be aware that your vehicles must fit into the space allotted for your site.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
A season pass for the day use area can be purchased at ScenicCanyons.com
Day Use parking is NOT included in your overnight camping fee. If you choose to park in the day use, you must PAY the day use fee for the convenience of parking there.
OHV use prohibited in the campground
Click here for more information on Colville National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Gillette campground has 14 campsites, vault toilets, drinking water and a bear proof garbage…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…has 14 campsites, vault toilets, drinking water and a bear proof garbage containers. The campground…”
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 148th darkest of 400 in WA
- 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 · 13
What you actually pay
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 14 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. 14 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 113 ft | 352 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 93 ft | 244 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 75 ft | 158 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 230 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 93 ft | 229 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 93 ft | 148 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 104 ft | 246 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 101 ft | 187 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 288 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 159 ft | 324 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 214 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 184 ft | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 87 ft | 240 ftSherry Lake | $31–$62 |
| LAKE GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 98 ft | 300 ftSherry Lake | $31–$62 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Gillette CampgroundColville National Forest · 0.2 mi
Lake Thomas CampgroundColville National Forest · 0.8 miLake Leo CampgroundColville National Forest · 3.2 miLittle Twin Lakes CampgroundColville National Forest · 5.5 mi
Big Meadow Lake CampgroundColville National Forest · 8.2 mi
Edgewater CampgroundColville National Forest · 12 miFrom Colville, WA: Head north on N Maple St toward E 2nd Ave for 0.1 miles. Turn right at the 2nd cross street onto WA-20 E/E 3rd Ave Continue to follow WA-20 E for 24.5 miles. Turn right onto NF-200/Pendoreille Lake Rd for 0.4 miles. Turn left and continue for 236 feet. Destination will be on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ione, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 54°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 32°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 moreOutside the published season
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Lake Gillette Campground is in Washington’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Michael Baumgartner (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →