Outlet at Priest Lake
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 14 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30–$60Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 27All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Outlet campground is located on the southwest shore of Priest Lake at the headwaters of Priest River. Campers come to Outlet for sunshine, fishing, boating, kayaking, and the breathtaking views of the rugged Selkird Mountains of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy kayaking, canoeing, and power boating on Priest Lake and 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, bird and wildlife viewing are popular activities, as well. Beach Trail #48 runs through Outlet campground and stretches northward along an 8-mile scenic part of Priest Lake. Off-highway vehicle enthusiasts will find authorized trails like the Peewee Trail, Steep Creek Trail, and John Wayne Trail. Hike the Chipmunk Rapids Trail that traverses along the Kaniksu Marsh, Priest River, and Chipmunk Rapids.
Facilities
Outlet campground has three loops, two upper view sections and one lower lake-side section. Roadways and parking spurs are fully paved. There are RV and tent sites (two of which are walk-in tent sites). Campsites vary from very large, capable of parking an RV and a boat trailer, to small, camper size, with lake side and lake view sites. Some of the sites are heavily wooded, while some are found in opened areas. Campground amenities include swimming area, water hydrants and accessible flush toilets. Garbage service is available in bearproof cans. A public dump station is located 5-miles North of the campground, at Upper Luby Bay, on Highway 57.
Natural Features
Outlet campground is situated at an elevation of 2,500 feet on Priest Lake. The lake is one of three largest and most beautiful lakes in the Idaho Panhandle, and reaches 300 feet in depth and covers 25,000 acres. The world's largest Mackinaw trout was caught here in 1963. Upper Priest Lake is part of the Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area. The entire shoreline of Upper Priest Lake is either the State of Idaho or federal ownership, and is administered as a scenic area. While visiting Priest Lake, watch for moose, black bear, wolves, deer, elk, and eagles, among others.
Nearby Attractions
Kalispell boat launch is the closest public boat launch, located about 7.5 miles north of the campground.
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 and drinks locked inside your vehicle when not in use. Remove all food items from the area after eating.
Maximum boat length is 20 feet.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
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.
There is no overflow parking at this location. Please only bring what will fit inside the site dimensions.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 70 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…area, water hydrants and accessible flush toilets. Garbage service is available in bearproof cans. A…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…amenities include swimming area, water hydrants and accessible flush toilets. Garbage service is…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- 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, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 455th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$60 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
27 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 27 mapped sitesAll 27 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. 27 of the 27 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.
| 01 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 81 ft | 339 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 02 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 81 ft | 411 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 03 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 103 ft | 461 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 04 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 70 ft | 567 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 05 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 550 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 06 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 103 ft | 671 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 07 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 103 ft | 708 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 08 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 126 ft | 590 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 09 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 118 ft | 266 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 10 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 101 ft | 263 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 11 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 160 ft | 103 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 12 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 98 ft | 54 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 13 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 98 ft | 93 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 14 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 26 ft | 136 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 15 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 26 ft | 132 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 16 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 39 ft | 135 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 17 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 39 ft | 136 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 18 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 71 ft | 315 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 19 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 84 ft | 253 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 20 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 71 ft | 334 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 21 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 76 ft | 265 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 22 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 76 ft | 340 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 23 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 85 ft | 353 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 24 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 67 ft | 397 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 25 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 64 ft | 337 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 26 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 56 ft | 365 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
| 27 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 56 ft | 419 ftPriest Lake | $30–$60 |
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
OspreyKaniksu National Forest · 1.3 miOutlet at Priest Lake CampgroundKaniksu National Forest · 1.3 mi
Luby BayKaniksu National Forest · 2.1 miLuby Bay CampgroundKaniksu National Forest · 2.7 miBartoo Island Group Site/CampgroundsKaniksu National Forest · 2.9 mi
Bartoo Island Boat-In Campground3.6 miPhysical Address:
Priest River, ID 83856
From I-90; Turn at Post Falls Highway 41 north to Newport, WA. Take Highway 2 east to Priest River. At the junction of Highway 57 and Highway 2, turn left. Drive 26 miles to Outlet Bay Road. Turn right for approximately 0.5 mile. Turn left on Lake Shore Road. Proceed 0.5 mile to Outlet Campground on the right.
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
Outlet at Priest Lake 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 →