Stanley Lake Campground
1Heads up1 fire 41 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $24–$48Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4039 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – September 30Open May 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Stanley Lake Campground is located on the shoreline above beautiful Stanley Lake at the foot of the Sawtooth Mountains. Keep reading
Recreation
Stanley Lake offers excellent boating, water skiing, canoeing, kayaking and fishing for rainbow, cutthroat, brook and bull trout. A boat ramp is located just outside the campground. The Idaho Centennial Trail passes nearby and can be accessed from the Stanley Lake Trailhead across the lake.
Facilities
The campground offers 17 reservable sites, as well as additional first come, first served sites. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and spurs within the site are gravel. A scenic overlook is located next to sites 3 and 4, with outstanding views of McGowan Peak and Stanley Lake. Painters and photographers frequent the overlook to capture the views.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on a hillside above the lake in a thick grove of lodgepole pines, at an elevation of 6,500 feet. Most campsites have partial shade and views of the lake and/or the rugged 9860-foot McGowan Peak. Temperatures are cool, with an average summer high of 78 degrees and a low of 40 degrees.
Nearby Attractions
Stanley Lake lies within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, which offers a myriad of excellent hiking and biking opportunities. An estimated 750 miles of trails crisscross the valley and surrounding mountains. Numerous sparkling lakes and streams, including the Salmon River, dot the area, making for great rainbow and native Westslope cutthroat trout fishing. Redfish Lake is nearby, offering additional water recreation opportunities. Popular area events include an Arts and Crafts Fair in July, and Wagon Days, Salmon Festival, Quilt Fair and Fireman's Ball in September.
What the agency tells you
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY. Double sites: refer to Specific Site # for capacity limits.
Late Arrivals: campers are not considered a "no-show" until 24 hours after arrival date check in time. Our policy is that your site will not be released before that.
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Extra Vehicles: Your camp fee includes the first vehicle only in a single site and the first 2 vehicles in a double site. All other vehicles will be charged 50% of the posted camp fee at the time of check-in and cannot be paid for in advance. Coordinate with the host for payment and where to park.
Campground Sites have been 'Realigned' with new numbers - Please add "6" to the previous site numbers to get the same site with the NEW number (for instance, old #4 is now #10, or old #26 is now #32)
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.
Idaho Off-Road Vehicle Safety Message
Click here for more info about the Sawtooth National Forest
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 40 · 5 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 52 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…first come, first served sites. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and spurs…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…first served sites. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and spurs within the site are…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 159th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 39 of the 40 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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $24–$48 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
40 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 17 mapped sitesAll 40 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 17 of the 40 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. 34 of the 40 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Lakeview Loop | 001 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Lakeview Loop | 002 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Lakeview Loop | 003 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Lakeview Loop | 004 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Lakeview Loop | 005 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Lakeview Loop | 006 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 007 | group standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 116 ft | 322 ft | 400 ft | |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 008 | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | 262 ft | 291 ft | |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 151 ft | 152 ft | 149 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 89 ft | 165 ft | 226 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 011 | group standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 85 ft | 177 ft | 308 ft | |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 85 ft | 185 ft | 391 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 013 | type not stated | |||||
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 72 ft | 191 ft | 583 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 70 ft | 203 ft | 668 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 151 ft | 196 ft | 806 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 71 ft | 224 ft | 942 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 274 ft | 1,015 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 61 ft | 334 ft | 1,050 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 020 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 177 ft | 456 ft | 1,052 ft | |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 161 ft | 386 ft | 829 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 71 ft | 285 ft | 957 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 023 | group standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 70 ft | 267 ft | 670 ft | |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 72 ft | 261 ft | 593 ft | $24–$48 |
| STANLEY LAKE CAMPGROUND | 3-CLOSED | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | $24–$48 | |||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 025 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 026 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 027 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 028 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 029 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 030 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 031 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 032 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 033 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 034 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 035 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 036 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 037 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 038 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 | ||||
| Stanley Lake Loop 2 | 039 | standard nonelectric | $24–$48 |
25 of 40 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Elk Creek Campground (Sawtooth NF)Challis National Forest · 3.0 mi
Sheep Trail CampgroundChallis National Forest · 4.0 miIron Creek Campground (ID)Challis National Forest · 4.1 mi
Trap Creek CampgroundChallis National Forest · 5.0 miGrandjean CampgroundBoise National Forest · 8.5 mi
Sunny Gulch CampgroundChallis National Forest · 8.7 miTravel 4.5 miles west of Stanley, Idaho on State Highway 21. Turn on paved Stanley Lake Road and drive 3 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Stanley, ID
Typical weather
Typical May night 30°F, day 60°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 30°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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
Stanley Lake 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 →