CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

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

Silver Creek Campground

Reservable, and full this SaturdayEvery one of the 22 sites on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 16:44 UTC

We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →

Watch for a cancellation Book on recreation.gov ↗

Right now: Taking bookingsSites offered on 17 of the next 17 nights read 16:44 UTC
A night: $15–$30Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 57All of them booked ahead

Photos · Silver Creek Plunge, LLC

50 ftLongest rig

4,500 ftElevation

103 ftWater · Control Creek

14.4 miSE of Cascade, ID

23%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices

In the agency’s own words

Silver Creek Campground is located 25 miles north of Garden Valley, Idaho, in beautiful Peace Valley at an elevation of 4,490 feet. Peace Valley offers a variety of great trails. Fishing and hunting are popular activities as well. Keep reading

Recreation

Peace Valley contains many trails for hiking, mountain biking, as well as horseback and OHV riding. Peace Creek Trail, Silver Creek Summit Trail, and Bull Creek Trail all begin nearby. Silver Creek, Peace Creek, and the nearby Middle Fork Payette River offer good-to-excellent fishing most of the year. Anglers in the area cast for whitefish and rainbow trout. In-season big game hunting for deer, elk and bear is a popular activity in the surrounding mountains.

Facilities

This campground offers paved roads and paved parking spurs, drinking water, and accessible vault toilets. Many single and double campsites are available, all of which are accessible. Each site is equipped with a tent pad, a fire ring, as well as picnic and utility tables. Two accessible group campsites are available with picnic shelters, multiple tables, campfire rings, grills, and ample parking. The Lodgepole Springs group site can accommodate up to 100 people, while the Cabin Creek group site can accommodate up to 80 people.

Natural Features

The campground is situated among a mixed-growth lodgepole pine forest, which provides partial shade. Silver Creek runs alongside the campground. A variety of wildlife makes its home in and around Peace Valley, including deer, elk, bald eagles, and red-tailed hawks.

Nearby Attractions

Silver Creek Plunge, a privately developed hot springs campground, is within a quarter-mile from the campground. It offers a hot springs pool, general store, a playground, horseshoe pits, as well as sand volleyball court and basketball hoop.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Single campsites are allowed ONE vehicle. Double campsites are allowed TWO vehicles. A fee of $5 per day will be collected for extra vehicles at the Silver Creek Plunge General Store.

Rule

This campground has first-come, first-served sites. Please register and pay for these campsites at the Silver Creek Plunge General Store.

Rule

Quiet Hours are from 11pm until 9am. All generators must be turned off by 11pm.

Everything else this campground posts · 8

Rule

This is a pack-in/pack-out campground. You must take all garbage with you when you leave. Any trash left behind will result in a fine.

Rule

Campfires must NOT be left unattended at any time. ALL campfires must be fully extinguished before leaving. Any campfires left hot, smoldering or burning will be fined.

Rule

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.

Rule

Chainsaws are not to be run in the campgrounds. You may not cut from any tree within the campground.

Rule

Pets are welcome but all animals must be leashed and restrained at all times.

Rule

Please click here for further information about the facility and recreation opportunities in the area.

Rule

Click here for more information on the Boise National Forest

Rule

Idaho OHV Safety Message

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 57 · 4 tent-only, 2 group
Hookups: None
Longest rig: 50 ft
Paved pads: 56 of 57
Accessible sites: 57
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: 54 of 57 sites

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Vault Toilets; “…spurs, drinking water, and accessible vault toilets. Many single and double campsites are available,…”
Drinking water: Yes; “…paved roads and paved parking spurs, drinking water, and accessible vault toilets. Many single and…”
Playground: Yes
Store: Nearby

Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Hot springs, River, Creek; Biking; Fishing; Hiking; Hunting; Other Recreation Concession Site; Wildlife viewing
Night sky · 294th darkest of 523 in ID: Bortle 2

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:44 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBooked

Every one of the 22 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 50 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:44 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking windowThrough November 1Bookable now through November 1, 2026, the end of the reservable season. On November 15, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 15, 2027.recreation.gov Add to calendar (.ics)

A night$15–$30plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$38–$68DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

Watch for a cancellation

Watch this campground

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov ↗

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

Every line of the receipt · 16

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, per site$15–$30

Standard Nonelectric$15

Tent Only Nonelectric$15

Standard Nonelectric- Double Site$30

Group area, a night$150

Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 15, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026.

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 this campground addsits own record

Extra vehicle$5

“A fee of $5 per day will be collected for extra vehicles at the Silver Creek Plunge General Store.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$23–$38

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$38–$68

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$30 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.

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 · 6

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

What this campground adds: The U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record and notices for this campground, quoted verbatim. An extra-vehicle charge is set locally and appears on no national schedule, so it’s never assumed. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

57 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 57 mapped sites

71 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most roomLodgepole Springs Group Site G001 1989 ftUpper Peace Creek U033 208 ftCabin Creek Group Site G002 192 ftValley Creek V008 132 ftUpper Peace Creek U031 100 ft

Least roomValley Creek V003 50 ftValley Creek V014 50 ftUpper Peace Creek U018 53 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 57 sites

57 of 57 sites located

Standard51Tent only4Group2

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 57 of the 57 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. 57 of the 57 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


Cabin Creek Group Site	G002	group standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	192 ft	51 ft	742 ft	$150
Lodgepole Springs Group Site	G001	group standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	1989 ft	88 ftSilver Creek	2,493 ft	$150
Lower Peace Creek	L001	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	76 ft	198 ftSilver Creek	600 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L002	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	73 ft	144 ftSilver Creek	560 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L003	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	73 ft	129 ftSilver Creek	627 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L004	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	72 ft	202 ftSilver Creek	672 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L005	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	72 ft	199 ftSilver Creek	736 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L006	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	78 ft	265 ftSilver Creek	886 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L007	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	91 ft	232 ftSilver Creek	919 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L008	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	78 ft	310 ftSilver Creek	956 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L009	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	57 ft	304 ftSilver Creek	1,035 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L010	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	57 ft	284 ftSilver Creek	1,079 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L011	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	63 ft	200 ftSilver Creek	1,033 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L012	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	63 ft	179 ftSilver Creek	1,081 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L013	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	82 ft	234 ftSilver Creek	1,151 ft	$15–$30
Lower Peace Creek	L035	tent only nonelectric	20 ft	yes	72 ft	80 ftSilver Creek	763 ft	$15
Lower Peace Creek	L036	tent only nonelectric	20 ft	yes	72 ft	144 ftSilver Creek	834 ft	$15
Lower Peace Creek	L037	tent only nonelectric	20 ft	yes	86 ft	52 ftSilver Creek	796 ft	$15
Lower Peace Creek	L038	tent only nonelectric	20 ft	yes	75 ft	126 ftSilver Creek	881 ft	$15
Upper Peace Creek	U014	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	77 ft	158 ftSilver Creek	1,177 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U015	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	66 ft	225 ftSilver Creek	1,282 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U016	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	65 ft	163 ftSilver Creek	1,246 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U017	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	72 ft	211 ftSilver Creek	1,338 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U018	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	53 ft	134 ftSilver Creek	1,290 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U019	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	53 ft	100 ftSilver Creek	1,312 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U020	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	75 ft	164 ftSilver Creek	1,452 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U021	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	71 ft	54 ftSilver Creek	1,352 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U022	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	142 ftSilver Creek	1,482 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U023	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	71 ft	38 ftSilver Creek	1,391 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U024	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	156 ftSilver Creek	1,529 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U025	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	75 ft	58 ftSilver Creek	1,452 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U026	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	71 ft	90 ftSilver Creek	1,519 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U027	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	229 ftSilver Creek	1,628 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U028	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	222 ftSilver Creek	1,681 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U029	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	71 ft	130 ftSilver Creek	1,590 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U030	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	98 ft	179 ftSilver Creek	1,733 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U031	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	100 ft	81 ftSilver Creek	1,691 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U032	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	77 ft	175 ftSilver Creek	1,843 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U033	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	208 ft	94 ftSilver Creek	1,959 ft	$15–$30
Upper Peace Creek	U034	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	77 ft	214 ftSilver Creek	1,915 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V001	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	57 ft	54 ft	674 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V002	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	62 ft	48 ft	686 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V003	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	50 ft	105 ft	728 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V004	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	62 ft	96 ft	746 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V005	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	164 ft	791 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V006	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	74 ft	244 ft	874 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V007	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	66 ft	247 ftSilver Creek	944 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V008	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	132 ft	174 ftSilver Creek	1,083 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V009	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	66 ft	188 ftSilver Creek	967 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V010	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	68 ft	186 ftSilver Creek	899 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V011	standard nonelectric	35 ft	yes	72 ft	104 ftSilver Creek	881 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V012	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	70 ft	199 ftSilver Creek	829 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V013	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	54 ft	125 ftSilver Creek	810 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V014	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	50 ft	126 ft	744 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V015	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	54 ft	144 ft	757 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V016	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	67 ft	93 ft	695 ft	$15–$30
Valley Creek	V017	standard nonelectric	50 ft	yes	80 ft	15 ft	616 ft	$15–$30

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

25 of 57 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate44.33083, -115.80417

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone208-739-3400

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Peace Valley CampgroundBoise National Forest · 1.9 mi

Boiling Springs CabinBoise National Forest · 3.5 mi

Rattlesnake Campground and Group sitesBoise National Forest · 5.8 mi

RattlesnakeBoise National Forest · 5.9 mi

River Side (ID - Boise)Boise National Forest · 7.1 mi

Riverside Campground (Lowman)Boise National Forest · 7.3 mi

Getting there

From Boise, travel north on Highway 55 to Banks. Turn east on the Banks-Lowman Highway and continue east for 8 miles toward Garden Valley. Turn north on Middle Fork Road (Forest Road 698) and pass through Crouch, continuing north on the Middle Fork Road approximately 16 miles to the "Y" (698 to Boiling Springs and 671 Silver Creek Road). Turn northeast (a right turn) on Silver Creek Road and continue 8 miles to the campground.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today71°Sunny

Tonight43°Partly Cloudy

Saturday70°Mostly Sunny

Saturday Night43°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Smiths Ferry, ID

Source: National Weather Service, BOI forecast office · Oct 16, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 31°F, day 58°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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: CASCADE 1 NW, ID (USC00101514), 18 miles away and 396 ft higher

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send

What threatens this place

critical

Stibnite Mine / Boise National Forestmining

Roadless

Bear Wallow9,139 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Peace Rock191,825 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 5, 2026

Who answers for this land

Silver Creek Campground is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (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.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Write to somebody who can change it

Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.

The member who votes the moneyRuss FulcherU.S. Representative · Idaho’s 1st district
Open their contact form ↗Their record →
Your senator, on the same appropriationJames E. RischU.S. Senator · Idaho
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationMike CrapoU.S. Senator · Idaho
Open their contact form ↗

Read the draft, or change the wording

For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.

To Russ Fulcher

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho

Dear Russ Fulcher,

I’m a constituent in Idaho’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t.

All 57 sites at Silver Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Silver Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Silver Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Silver Creek Campground (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com

To James E. Risch

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho

Dear James E. Risch,

I’m a constituent in Idaho. I tried to camp at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t.

All 57 sites at Silver Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Silver Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Silver Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Silver Creek Campground (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com

To Mike Crapo

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho

Dear Mike Crapo,

I’m a constituent in Idaho. I tried to camp at Silver Creek Campground, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t.

All 57 sites at Silver Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Silver Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Silver Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Silver Creek Campground (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 17 of the next 17 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026 and November 2026. It names 57 of the 57 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 14, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 57 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.047 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 523 rated federal campgrounds in Idaho · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

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: Smiths Ferry, ID, 12.8 mi E (a census designated place). Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026