Sandpoint, ID

Camping in North Idaho is such a perfectly easy thing no matter where you are, it seems like you are minutes away from great camping. We decided to get out of town and we quickly landed on Priest Lake. Less than 50 miles from Sandpoint this seemed like the perfect place for a weekend getaway. The one downside of a trip to Priest Lake is often times it is so popular that finding a camping spot is nearly impossible. This being the third trip up (the other two ending in not a single spot open) we had to say we were a little worried that we’d find anything open at all (the easy way would be to make reservations but then it wouldn’t be spontaneous).

We left Friday right after work and packed up the car heading out we weren’t sure how things were going to turn out after the last two trips up there but considering we had just decided where to go we wouldn’t have had much time for reservations anyway. We first tried the eastside, which is all state parks and after an additional 30 miles all spots seemed to be full. At this point we turned around and decided that maybe we should head home, however after hitting the main road we decided to hit one last place on the Westside of the lake (the US forest side).

We found a campground that was new to us called Outlet and while this isn’t a new site they seemed to be expanding it, which left about half of the campground with huge mounds of discarded trees from the clearing for more camp sites. We shied away from that side of the campground having no desire to spend our time with so little view. We quickly made our way to the other side and found a beautiful campsite that was almost pristine in setting being that at this time it was almost 9:30 PM we quickly set up camp. Don’t you just love that the sun is up till almost 10 PM here in Northern Idaho?

Upon waking the next morning and having a great breakfast over a campfire we made our way down to the beach. It was a very nice sand beach that had a huge swimming area with the water coming up to mid chest all the way out to the buoys. It was also a very comforting place for younger, less experienced swimmers. We spent most of the day lounging and playing in the water of this beach, and while it wasn’t huge, most of the people spent only a few hours at a time leaving the beach un-crowded.

The nice thing about getting dinner going was with all the wood on the other side of camp there was plenty of stuff to burn without having to buy a bunch of stacks of wood from the camp host. The fire pits were a pretty good size too as we had a peach cobbler cooking in the Dutch oven while we were cooking up dinner. There is nothing like having a nice meal straight from a campfire with the beauty of Priest Lake sitting as your backdrop.
Between the quietness of the camp and the serenity of the lake it was a very relaxing and beautiful trip that we would recommend to anyone. Just make sure to get a reservation if you can; otherwise steel yourself for a long hunt to find a spot.
To get to Priest Lake, you take Hwy 2 to Priest River, and turn right at the first light. Follow the road all the way to Priest Lake. To Outlet campground, continue straight rather than take the turn off. Outlet Campground is located the very southern end of the lake. For more information, visit the Forest Service website.