U.S. Forest Service · Challis National Forest · ID

Pole Flat Campground

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 46 mi
Wildfire
East Fork fire · 46 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
Wildfire
Ia 2 fire · 47 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 16, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Drawn from the record · 6,160 ft · 35% tree cover · Yankee Fork within reach · Bortle 2 sky
6,160 ftElevation
185 ftWater · Yankee Fork
44.3 miNW of Ketchum, ID
35%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 214th darkest of 523 in ID

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

This campground is away from the main road and up the hill overlooking the river and the dredge ponds. Campsites include picnic tables tent pads fire rings with cooking grills. Campground amenities include a vault toilet and drinking water. Sites accommodate trailers and motorhomes up to 32 feet long.

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…grills. Campground amenities include a vault toilet and drinking water. Sites accommodate trailers and…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…amenities include a vault toilet and drinking water. Sites accommodate trailers and motorhomes up to 32…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River
Fishing
Picnicking
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe agency’s record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 3

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4

rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon67°Sunny
Tonight33°Partly Cloudy
Saturday65°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night32°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Stanley, ID

Typical weather

Typical October night 24°F, day 55°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 4°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

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.

Measured at: STANLEY RS, ID (USW00004112), 14 miles away and 335 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Greylock11,825 acres · 10 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Mike Simpson, official portrait

Pole Flat Campground 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Stanley, ID, 11.8 mi ENE. Straight line.