About this place
North Fork Campground sits in St. Charles Canyon in southern Idaho, near Bear Lake.
People come here to walk, cycle, ride and take a motorcycle out on the local trails, and to fish the creek.
A dense mixed conifer forest covers the campground. The creek flows gently through it.
North Fork Trail starts inside the campground. It takes motorcycles, horses, walkers and mountain bikers, and it joins the Highline Trail.
The Highline runs 55 miles along the backbone of the Wasatch Mountains.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game manages the river fisheries, and the fishing is excellent for most of the year.
Big game hunting is popular in season.
There is an accessible group site that takes up to 50 people. It is made of five smaller sites.
Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. There are vault toilets. The roads and parking spurs are gravel.
Minnetonka Cave is a short way from the campground. Scenic Canyons runs guided tours of 90 minutes through its nine rooms.
The formations have names: the Bride and Groom, the Three Sisters, the Devil’s Kingdom.
The cave is 40 degrees inside and the path through it has 444 steps. Buy tickets at the entrance.
Bear Lake’s North Beach is 12 miles away, with swimming and fishing on one of the largest natural lakes in the region.
Bear Lake State Park Marina is 20 miles away. It has a seven-lane boat ramp, boat rentals, slips, a snack bar and a general store.
After the season the campground stays open, first come, first served. There is no fee then, no toilets and no water.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- The roads and parking spurs are gravel
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Caribou-Targhee National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
Coordinates 42.096110, -111.533060
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Minnetonka Cave Directions
- Worm Creek Wilderness Study Area Directions
- Bear Lake Directions
- Beaver Mountain Directions
- Naomi Peak Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- St. Charles, ID Directions
- Franklin, ID Directions
Franklin is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.