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St. Charles Campground is situated on its namesake creek in the scenic St. Charles Canyon, approximately 8 miles from Bear Lake State Park and North Beach.
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 area'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 good to excellent fishing most of the year, including in St. Charles Creek. In-season big game hunting is also a popular activity.
The campground offers one group site that can accommodate up to 20 people. Six single sites are also available. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. A paved road leads to the campground.
Stands of aspens provide partial shade, while lodgepole pines, willow, dogwoods, Engelmann spruce and wild roses dot the landscape. The varied vegetation provides plenty of privacy from site to site.
Minnetonka Cave, one of only two developed caves in the Forest Service, is a few miles from the campground. Guided cave tours are scheduled every 30 minutes daily from 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.
From U.S. Highway 89 in St. Charles, turn west onto Forest Road #412 and travel approximately 3 miles to the forest boundary. The campground entrance is just around the bend.
Was clean. Just big enough for our family group of 25 people.
Not bad but lots of noise in the afternoon from traffic going up and down the road.
The stream is a nice feature and you can hear it bubbling along.
Small camp ground that is fairly close to the north shore of Bear lake. It is close to the road and it seems to have a lot of traffic coming and going from other campsites and Minnetonka caves. There is a small creek (St. Charles Creek) that is right by a few of the camp sights making it fun for the kids.
Campground is nice and the bathrooms are good for being campground. The spots are first come first serve so they are hard to get as the Bear lake crowd snaps them up quickly.
Negative points are the "Group site". we had two camp trailers and there was no way to fit them in the space provided. We ended have to split up and one group get a airB&B. Also most of the other sites pretty short not great for long trailers.
