Sawtooth National Forest · Idaho
Overview Lower Penstemon Campground is located along the scenic Rock Creek Road, in southern Idaho, at an elevation of 6,600 feet. Visitors come to the area to enjoy its abundant trails and natural beauty. Recreation Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and off-road vehicle trails crisscross the surrounding area.
Sites at Lower Penstemon are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 7 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Standard |
| Location | Burley, ID |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
ItOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Lower Penstemon around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Glacier View Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Sunny Gulch Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Stanley Lake Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Baumgartner Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Alturas Lake Inlet | Cancellation alerts available |
| North Fork (Id) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Outlet Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Point Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Thompson Flat | Cancellation alerts available |
| Easley Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Porcupine Springs | Cancellation alerts available |
| Lake Cleveland - East Side | Cancellation alerts available |
| Sheep Trail Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Boundary (Id) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Caribou Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Casino Creek | Cancellation alerts available |
| Chinook Bay Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Diamondfield Jack Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Grandjean Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Holman Creek Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Iron Creek Campground (ID) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Lake Cleveland Campground - West Side | Cancellation alerts available |
| Lower O'Brien Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mormon Bend Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mount Heyburn Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mountain View Campground (ID) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Murdock Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| North Shore Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Pettit Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Pettit Lake Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Riverside Campground (ID) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Salmon River Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Schipper Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Smokey Bear Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Sockeye Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Steer Basin Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Twin Lakes Campground (Sawtooth) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Upper O'Brien Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Upper Penstemon Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Whiskey Flat Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| North Shore Picnic Area | Cancellation alerts available |
| Alturas Lake Picnic Area (Id) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Chemeketan Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Elk Creek Campground (Sawtooth Nf) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Redfish Cabin | Cancellation alerts available |
| Trap Creek Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Wood River Group Overnight Area (Tent Only) | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Lower Penstemon; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.