Porcupine (ID)
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $20–$34Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 17All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Porcupine Campground is situated on St. Charles Creek in a scenic canyon in the rolling Idaho forests. The campground is also close to Bear Lake State Park and North Beach, offering visitors countless recreational opportunities in a serene forest setting. Keep reading
Recreation
Nearby, the North Fork Trail and its associated trails access the Highline Trail #316. The Highline Trail is part of the National Trail System and is the Montpelier Ranger District's premier trail. It stretches 55 miles along the backbone of the Wasatch Mountains and is open to hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders and motorcyclists, attracting trail users from around the world. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game manages the river fisheries, providing excellent fishing most of the year, including in St. Charles Creek. In-season big game hunting is also a popular activity.
Facilities
The campground offers six family sites, as well as one group site that can accommodate up to 20 people. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads to and within the campground are paved.
Natural Features
The Caribou-Targhee National Forest occupies more than 3 million acres and stretches across southeastern Idaho, from the Montana, Utah and Wyoming borders. The forest is also home to the Curlew National Grassland, and on the northern end of the forest the massive profile of the Teton Range can be seen. Pines and aspens forest the area, providing partial shade, and summer wildflowers dot the landscape. St. Charles Creek flows gently past the campground.
Nearby Attractions
Minnetonka Cave, one of only two developed caves in the Forest Service, is 2 miles from the campground. Guided cave tours are scheduled every 30 minutes daily from approximately early June until Labor Day. The Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge is just north of Bear Lake, offering excellent bird watching. Bear Lake's Raspberry Days Festival occurs the first weekend in August every year, with a parade, fireworks, craft booths and a rodeo.
What the agency tells you
Electric hookups are not available
Wildlife Caution
Idaho Off-road Vehicle Safety Message
Everything else this campground posts · 6
A $5 fee will be charged for each additional vehicle
America The Beautiful Access Pass and Golden Age passport holders receive 50% off on single-family sites only
This is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility; please bring garbage bags
Additional single sites may be available on a first-come, first-served basis
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Check-in Time is 2:00pm and Check-out time is 12:00pm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 17 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 32 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…that can accommodate up to 20 people. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads to and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…up to 20 people. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads to and within the campground…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 456th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 30 km away
- Past peak
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“A $5 fee will be charged for each additional vehicle” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$34 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
17 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 7 mapped sitesAll 17 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 7 of the 17 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. 17 of the 17 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| 1 | 13 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 176 ft | 193 ft | 2,211 ft | $20–$34 |
| 1 | 14 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 84 ft | 213 ft | 2,180 ft | $20–$34 |
| 1 | 15 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 84 ft | 160 ft | 2,219 ft | $20–$34 |
| 1 | 16 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 107 ft | 138 ft | 2,336 ft | $20–$34 |
| 1 | 17 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 107 ft | 241 ft | 2,255 ft | $20–$34 |
| 2 | 1 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 10 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 11 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 12 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 3 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 4 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 5 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 6 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 7 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | 8 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 588 ft | 108 ft | 2,567 ft | $20–$34 |
| 2 | 9 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20–$34 | |||
| 2 | group standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 176 ft | 199 ft | 2,250 ft | $40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cloverleaf CampgroundCache National Forest · 0.6 mi
NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND - St. CHARLES CANYONCache National Forest · 0.7 mi
Davis Canyon CampgroundCache National Forest · 1.8 mi
Egan Basin Guard StationCache National Forest · 3.9 mi
St. Charles CampgroundCache National Forest · 4.0 miBeaver Creek CampgroundCache National Forest · 5.2 miFrom U.S. Highway 89, turn west onto St. Charles Canyon Road/Forest Road 412. Follow for approximately 7 miles to the campground on the left side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for St. Charles, ID
Typical weather
Typical May night 38°F, day 61°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 38°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
Porcupine (ID) 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 →