Luby Bay
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 14 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30–$64Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5251 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Luby Bay Campground is located near both Lamb Creek and Priest Lake. The campground is densely wooded with nicely secluded sites, and is within easy access to many great views of the Selkirk Mountains. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy kayaking, canoeing and power boating up the 3.5-mile thoroughfare that leads to the Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area. The upper lake cannot be accessed by car. Fishing, swimming, birding and wildlife viewing are popular activities as well. The Beach Trail #48 can be accessed from the campground. The 8-mile scenic excursion loops around the southern part of Priest Lake.
Facilities
Luby Bay has an upper and lower section. Upper Luby Campground has paved roads and gravel parking spurs. Lower Luby has paved parking spurs and the option of waterfront sites. Campground amenities include water hydrants, flush toilets and a dual-bay RV dump station (an additional fee is required for the dump station). Lower Luby has a large day use area perfect for picnics and group functions. If you park to use day use area there is a parking fee of $8.00. If you walk from your campsite there is no fee to use the day use. An amphiteather is located in the recreation area and regularly hosts interpretive programs.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 2,500 feet on the western shores of Priest Lake. Campsites are shaded by hemlock and cedar. Priest Lake consists of the main lake where most water recreation takes place. To the north, the lake connects via a narrow channel with Upper Priest Lake.
Nearby Attractions
Off-road vehicle enthusiasts will find authorized trails like the Peewee Trail, Steep Creek Trail and John Wayne Trail. In winter, hundreds of miles of groomed trails beckon nordic skiers and snowmobile riders.
What the agency tells you
Your reserved site will be held until check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. If you haven't occupied it at any time during this period, your reservation is null and void and your site will be given to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Extra Vehicles: One vehicle is included in your single campsite fee. Each additional vehicle will be charged a per day fee that is collected on site (cash or check only) if space is available in your site only. Additional parking may not be available. For double sites, 2 vehicles are included with your camping fee. Each additional vehicle will be charged a per day fee that is collected on site (cash or check only) if space is available in your site only.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from the area after eating
Everything else this campground posts · 5
A season pass for the day use area can be purchased at ScenicCanyons.com
Day Use parking is NOT included in your overnight camping fee. If you choose to park in the day use, you must PAY the day use fee for the convenience of parking there.
The 14 day stay limit is strictly enforced. Camping for a period longer than 14 days during any 30-consecutive day period is prohibited. If you have booked back-to-back reservations, you will be asked to cancel all days after the first 14.
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Click here to learn more about the Idaho Panhandle National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 52
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Paved pads
- 26 of 52
- Accessible sites
- 26
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…amenities include water hydrants, flush toilets and a dual-bay RV dump station (an additional fee…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…sites. Campground amenities include water hydrants, flush toilets and a dual-bay RV dump station (an…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Berry Picking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Climbing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Jet Skiing
- Kayaking
- Scuba Diving
- Swimming
- Water Skiing
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 441st darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 51 of the 52 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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$64 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
56 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 51 mapped sitesAll 56 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 51 of the 56 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA LUBY BAY | XXX | unnamed record | 25 ft | yes | |||
| AREA LUBY BAY | XXX1 | unnamed record | $30–$64 | ||||
| AREA LUBY BAY | XXX2 | unnamed record | $30–$64 | ||||
| AREA LUBY BAY | XXX3 | unnamed record | $30–$64 | ||||
| LOWER LOOP | 001 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 35 ft | 333 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 002 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 35 ft | 302 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 003 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 57 ft | 405 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 004 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | yes | 57 ft | 386 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 88 ft | 318 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 82 ft | 245 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 007 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 82 ft | 221 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 40 ft | 205 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 009 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 40 ft | 165 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 63 ft | 239 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 011 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | yes | 63 ft | 268 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 012 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 47 ft | 649 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 013 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 47 ft | 603 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 78 ft | 693 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 015 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | yes | 34 ft | 750 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 016 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | yes | 117 ft | 762 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 34 ft | 721 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 88 ft | 650 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 66 ft | 566 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 020 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 36 ft | 518 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 021 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 36 ft | 538 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 022 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 150 ft | 454 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 023 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | yes | 39 ft | 466 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 024 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | yes | 39 ft | 503 ft | $30–$64 |
| LOWER LOOP | 025 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 74 ft | 505 ft | $30–$64 |
| UPPR LOOP | 028 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 77 ft | 1,337 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 029 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | 1,272 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 030 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 57 ft | 1,211 ft | $30–$64 |
| UPPR LOOP | 031 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 57 ft | 1,165 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 032 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 85 ft | 1,102 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 033 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 85 ft | 1,066 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 034 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 59 ft | 1,000 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 035 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 59 ft | 1,050 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 036 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 94 ft | 972 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 037 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 63 ft | 1,001 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 038 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 63 ft | 938 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 039 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 113 ft | 1,090 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 040 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 113 ft | 1,202 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 041 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 47 ft | 1,276 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 042 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 47 ft | 1,246 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 043 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 53 ft | 1,310 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 044 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 53 ft | 1,258 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 045 | type not stated | 45 ft | 1,283 ft | |||
| UPPR LOOP | 046 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 79 ft | 1,365 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 047 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 72 ft | 1,334 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 048 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 72 ft | 1,406 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 049 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 71 ft | 1,381 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 050 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 1,451 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 051 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 58 ft | 1,446 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 052 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 58 ft | 1,500 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 053 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 64 ft | 1,479 ft | $30–$64 | |
| UPPR LOOP | 054 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 64 ft | 1,543 ft | $30–$64 |
The agency files 4 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 1 it types MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite and 3 it filed without a site name and nothing in its own record decides. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 56 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Outlet at Priest Lake2.1 miBartoo Island Group Site/CampgroundsKaniksu National Forest · 2.1 mi
Kalispell Island Boat-In Campground2.2 mi
Bartoo Island Boat-In Campground2.8 mi
OspreyKaniksu National Forest · 3.2 miFrom I-90, east or west, turn at Post Falls, Idaho on Highway 41 going north to Newport, Washington. Take Highway 2 east to Priest River. At the junction of Highways 57 and 2, turn left at the stop light (there is only one in town) onto Highway 57. Go 28.5 miles to Lamb Creek Village. Turn right on Luby Bay Road. Go 1.5 miles to the stop sign. Turn left on W. Lake Shore Road and proceed 0.5 miles to the campground.
From Sandpoint, Idaho, take Highway 2 west 22 miles to Priest River. At the junction of Highways 57 and 2, turn right at stop light (there is only one in town) onto Highway 57. Go 28.5 miles to Lamb Creek Village. Turn right on Luby Bay Road. Go 1.5 miles to the stop sign. Turn left on W. Lake Shore Road and proceed 0.5 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 Coolin, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 54°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 22°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 more
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
Luby Bay is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →