Panhandle
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 29 mi
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $31From, per site
- Sites
- 1312 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 17Opens May 17. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Panhandle Campground is set in a heavily forested area on the Pend Oreille River in northeast Washington. This small campground offers sites with views of the river, plus a swimming area right along the campground. Keep reading
Recreation
Canoeing and birding are popular activities. Small wetlands areas lie on the south end of the campground, attracting an abundance of birds. Excellent fishing opportunities for bass and trout exist in the river as well. Power boating and water skiing are possible on the wide, deep Pend Oreille River. Boating speeds are limited to 35 mph. A boat ramp is located on-site.
Facilities
Sites are suitable for tents and large RVs. Most sites are private and all are within a short walk of the river. Drinking water, vault toilets and picnic tables are among the campground's amenities.
Natural Features
The campground stretches along the east bank of the Pend Oreille River. A thick middlestory offers good privacy between campsites. The Pend Oreille River flows north for about 130 miles into Canada and merges with the Columbia River. The beautiful mountains and valleys were shaped by glaciers in the Ice Age. The Colville National Forest encompasses 1.1 million acres in the northeast corner of Washington State. The forest's great salmon runs first attracted Native Americans to the area, then miners, homesteaders and fur trappers. Its variety of resources and natural beauty continues to attract visitors today.
Nearby Attractions
Cruise the forest roads within a 30-mile radius and find an abundance of scenic overlooks and chances to see wildlife.
What the agency tells you
Bears and cougars frequent the area; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from the area after eating
Entrance gates are locked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
SCRS & Recreation.gov policy states we will keep your reserved site 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 we will give it to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
No electric hookups at this facility
Click here for more information on Colville National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 13
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 33 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…short walk of the river. Drinking water, vault toilets and picnic tables are among the campground's…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are within a short walk of the river. Drinking water, vault toilets and picnic tables are among the…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Night sky · 177th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 12 of the 13 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $31 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 13 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. 12 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
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.
| AREA PANHANDLE | 001 | type not stated | 33 ft | 129 ft | ||
| AREA PANHANDLE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 83 ft | 106 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 128 ft | 375 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 004 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 158 ft | 397 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 005 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 160 ft | 340 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 92 ft | 294 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 107 ft | 157 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 107 ft | 261 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 92 ft | 377 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 92 ft | 351 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 92 ft | 282 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 83 ft | 150 ft | $31 |
| AREA PANHANDLE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 91 ft | 112 ft | $31 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Browns Lake CampgroundKaniksu National Forest · 6.2 mi
South Skookum LakeKaniksu National Forest · 8.9 mi
Gillette CampgroundColville National Forest · 14 miLake Leo CampgroundColville National Forest · 14 mi
Lake Gillette CampgroundColville National Forest · 14 mi
Lake Thomas CampgroundColville National Forest · 14 miFrom downtown Newport, travel east on U.S. Highway 2 for 0.75 miles. Immediately after crossing the Pend Oreille River bridge, turn left on LeClerc Road and travel 32 miles north to Panhandle Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cusick, WA
Typical weather
Typical May night 39°F, day 68°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 39°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 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
Panhandle 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 →