Osprey
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 14 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30–$32Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 1615 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Campers come to Osprey for sunshine and boating at Priest Lake, and for breathtaking views of the rugged Selkirk Mountains. Fishing is also a big draw, with trout just waiting to be caught. While here, watch for moose, grizzly and black bears, wolves, mountain lions and deer. Osprey, as inferred by the campground name, also inhabit the area. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating, canoeing, kayaking and wake boarding are summertime favorites. Boaters like to head north on the lake and traverse a narrow thoroughfare to reach Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area. Anglers often catch Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout and kokanee salmon.
Facilities
Campground roads and parking spurs are paved and facilities are accessible. Amenities include flush toilets, fire rings and picnic tables that are naturally shaded by towering trees.
Natural Features
Osprey Campground is perched on the lower western shore of Priest Lake near Outlet Bay. The beautiful 25,000-acre lake is fed by springs trickling down from the Selkirks. The clear, blue lake reaches 300 feet in depth.
Nearby Attractions
Hike the Chipmunk Rapids Trail that traverses along the Kaniksu Marsh, Priest River and Chipmunk Rapids. In winter, ice fishing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling are popular activities in the surrounding area.
What the agency tells you
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 is not be available.
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
Maximum boat length is 20 feet
Everything else this campground posts · 6
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 will be given to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
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.
No electric hookups at this facility
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
No First Come First Served sites available. All sites are reservable and are shown online.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 16
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 64 ft
- Paved pads
- 1 of 16
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…are accessible. Amenities include flush toilets, fire rings and picnic tables that are naturally…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Coast
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Scuba Diving
- Water sports
- Night sky · 451st darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 15 of the 16 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$32 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
16 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 15 mapped sitesAll 16 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 15 of the 16 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 OSPREY | 001 | standard nonelectric | 122 ft | 430 ft | $30–$32 | |
| AREA OSPREY | 002 | standard nonelectric | 122 ft | 399 ft | $30–$32 | |
| AREA OSPREY | 003 | standard nonelectric | 146 ft | 378 ft | $30–$32 | |
| AREA OSPREY | 004 | standard nonelectric | 124 ft | 357 ft | $30–$32 | |
| AREA OSPREY | 005 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 124 ft | 342 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 006 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 117 ft | 336 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 007 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 86 ft | 325 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 008 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 86 ft | 328 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 009 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 137 ft | 163 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 010 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 128 ft | 150 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 011 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 120 ft | 147 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 012 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 120 ft | 146 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 013 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 132 ft | 129 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 014 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 180 ft | 204 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 015 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 408 ft | 176 ft | $30–$32 |
| AREA OSPREY | 016 | type not stated | 443 ft |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Outlet at Priest Lake1.3 miBartoo Island Group Site/CampgroundsKaniksu National Forest · 3.2 mi
Luby BayKaniksu National Forest · 3.2 miLuby Bay CampgroundKaniksu National Forest · 3.7 mi
Bartoo Island Boat-In Campground3.8 miTravel to Priest River Idaho. Head North on Hwy 57 and drive 25 miles to Outlet Bay Road. A sign on Hwy 57 will state "Turn here for Outlet Bay Campground", that is the same turn for Osprey. Turn right for approximately 0.5 miles and left on Lakeshore Road. Again follow the sign for Outlet Bay Campground. Travel on Lakeshore road for less than a mile and Osprey will be on the right hand side. There is a directional sign pointing the way to Osprey 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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Osprey 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 →