National Park Service · Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument · ME

Sandbank Stream Campground

2Heads uppark alerts
Caution
Increased Logging Traffic Along Swift Brook Road Be alert for logging trucks along Swift Brook Road between the monument boundary and the start of the Loop Road. Logging trucks will be transporting logs on Swift Brook Road to Roberts Road. Logging trucks ALWAYS have the right of way.…
Caution
Hunting Season Begins Hunting in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is now open for the 2026 season. Hunting is permitted on all monument land east of the East Branch Penobscot River. It is recommended that all visitors wear high visibility clothing…
Alerts: National Park Service alerts API · Oct 17, 2026
ReservableBooking 6 months out; today unlocks April 17. Season not published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
OpenThe agency lists it open
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Sites
3All of them booked ahead
Season
Year-roundOpen year-round
700 ftElevation
152 ftWater · an unnamed pond
12.8 miN of Millinocket, ME
0%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 16th darkest of 24 in ME
Open year-roundToday

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Sandbank Stream Campground has 3 campsites. It is located approximately 10 miles from the intersection of Route 11 and Swift Brook Road, near the beginning of the Katahdin Loop Road. There is a short trail to a wetland habitat viewpoint next to the campground.

Source: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets - year round
Drinking water
None, bring your own
Source: National Park Service and agency records

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Fall color · reported 3 days ago, in Penobscot County
Past peak
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by the county the report names · Oct 14, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

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.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 17, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
A nightFreeplus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$8DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itNational Park ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 11

What you actually pay

The sign priceNational Park Service
Camping feeFree
Campsite fee$0
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$8
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$8

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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
Source: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today39°Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Light Snow21% rain
Tonight26°Slight Chance Light Snow then Mostly Clear20% rain
Sunday46°Sunny
Sunday Night32°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Millinocket, ME

Typical weather

Typical October night 37°F, day 55°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 5°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: MILLINOCKET, ME (USC00175304), 15 miles away and 340 ft lower

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.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Jared Golden, official portrait

Sandbank Stream Campground is in Maine’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Jared Golden (D), 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: The agency lists it open right now.
Season: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by the county the report names · Oct 14, 2026
Reported by: Maine Forest Service, reported past peak · Oct 14, 2026
Cell signal: the Park 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.