Osceola Vista Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 12All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Osceola Vista is a popular spot for group camping and is located near a host of outdoor activities, including hiking, mountain biking, canoeing and golfing. Just minutes away, hiking enthusiasts will find the Sandwich Range Wilderness and 80 miles of the White Mountain National Forest's prime hiking trails. The White Mountains boast pristine forests, clear mountain streams and rivers and the tallest peaks in the Northeast. The forest encompasses nearly 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and western Maine, and is one of the most popular in the country. Keep reading
Recreation
Entrances to the Greeley Ponds National Scenic Area and Sandwich Range Wilderness are minutes away, much to the delight of hikers. Also convenient are two above tree-line hikes within eight minutes of the campground. Just a few miles away at Campton Campground, curious campers can attend evening educational programs. Those who need a break from the woods can visit the resort down the road. Learn more about recreation in the national forest.
Facilities
This small campground features large open sites designed for bigger than average camping parties and large organized groups (up to 30 or 60 people per site). A mix of group, standard and tent-only sites are organized around a single loop. Showers are available 10 minutes away at Campton Campground.
Natural Features
The campground lies amidst northern hardwood forests, giving campsites a mix of sun and shade. The area is surrounded by mountains and close to the Mad and Winnipesaukee Rivers. The national forest is home to many species of northern wildlife, including moose, white-tailed deer and black bear. Almost 200 species of birds, including the rare Bicknell's Thrush, live in the White Mountains. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (802) 289-0970.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is located in close proximity to Waterville Valley Resort, which offers nightlife, summer concert tours, restaurants, horseback riding, canoeing, mountain bike rentals and shops.
What the agency tells you
No switching sites upon arrival
Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside a hard-sided vehicle and remove all food from area after eating
Reserved Sites will be held until checkout time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of the second day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
Visitors should be prepared for rugged trails and changing weather: Hike SafeHike Safe
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
Click here to learn more about White Mountain National Forest website
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12 · 4 tent-only, 12 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 15th darkest of 28 in NH
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 5 days ago, 24 km away
- Peak color
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 · 11
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
16 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 16 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 12 of the 16 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| G-H | G | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 88 ft | 223 ft | 2,964 ft | |
| G-H | H | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 86 ft | 460 ft | 2,838 ft | |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX | unnamed record | 40 ft | yes | $50 | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX1 | unnamed record | $50 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX2 | unnamed record | $50 | |||||
| OSCE | A | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 113 ft | 204 ft | 2,862 ft | ||
| OSCE | B | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 117 ft | 260 ft | 3,213 ft | |
| OSCE | C | group standard nonelectric | 83 ft | 205 ft | 3,216 ft | |||
| OSCE | CH HOST | host pad | 40 ft | 147 ft | $50 | |||
| OSCE | D | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 223 ft | 3,136 ft | ||
| OSCE | E | group tent only area nonelectric | 30 ft | 88 ft | 252 ft | 3,040 ft | ||
| OSCE | F | group tent only area nonelectric | 30 ft | 146 ft | 398 ft | 2,983 ft | ||
| OSCE | I | group tent only area nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 523 ft | 2,779 ft | ||
| OSCE | J | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 86 ft | 420 ft | 2,742 ft | |
| OSCE | K | group tent only area nonelectric | 30 ft | 81 ft | 335 ft | 2,737 ft | ||
| OSCE | L | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 256 ft | 2,766 ft |
The agency files 4 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 1 it names a host pad and 3 it types MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Waterville CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 2.2 mi
Big RockWhite Mountain National Forest · 5.7 mi
Russell Pond CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 7.0 mi
Hancock Campground (NH)White Mountain National Forest · 7.3 miPassaconaway CampgroundWhite Mountain National Forest · 7.6 mi
Radeke CabinWhite Mountain National Forest · 7.7 miTake Highway 93 in New Hampshire to exit 28. Travel east on Highway 49 to Tripoli Road for 10 miles, and turn left onto Tripoli Road. Pass the Waterville Campground entrance sign, continue for 1.5 miles and bear right at the Mt. Tecumseh sign. Continue 1.6 miles to the Osceola Vista entrance 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 Lincoln, NH
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 7°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
Osceola Vista Campground is in New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Maggie Goodlander (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →