West Sullivan
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 30 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $31From, per site
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
West Sullivan Campground is located at the north end of Sullivan Lake and about five miles east of Metaline Falls in northeast Washington. The campground provides a unique environment where campers can enjoy a variety of recreational activities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Sullivan Lake Basin provides campers with opportunities for swimming, fishing, boating and hiking. Fishing in this deep mountain lake is most successful from a boat. Common fish species in the lake include burbot (ling cod) and Kokanee salmon. Canoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding are among the most popular water sports on the lake. Campers and walk directly from their campsite to a designated swimming area on the lake. Also, within walking distance are a short nature trail and the Lakeshore Trail, a designated National Scenic Trail that runs along the eastern shore of the lake. This 4.2 mile trail offers viewpoints of the lake and is a popular day hike for all ages. The nearby Salmo-Priest Wilderness offers multiple day outings with many excellent hikes and picturesque scenery. Boat ramps are located on the north and south ends of the lake in East Sullivan and Noisy Creek Campgrounds., Mountain bikers can enjoy several surrounding Forest Service roads and trails.
Facilities
All sites at West Sullivan are accessible and the parking aprons are gravel and grass. Campsites do not have electric hookups, but each one comes with a picnic table and fire ring . Drinking water, accessible vault toilets, garbage service and food storage containers are provided.
Natural Features
This small campground is located in a mixed stand of conifer trees with a dense understory that offers privacy between campsites. It sits at 2700 feet in elevation on the lakeshore. Sullivan Lake covers 1291 acres and has a depth of 320 feet. Hall Mountain rises abruptly from the eastern shore of the lake to a height of over 6000 feet. A small airstrip lies adjacent to the campground and allows campers to fly in by chartering a plane or bringing their own small aircraft. The forest boasts exciting wildlife such as grizzly and black bears, cougars, bald eagles and the last remaining herd of woodland caribou in the United States.
Nearby Attractions
The Mill Pond Historic Site, located 2 miles north of the campground, details the early history of Metaline Falls through a series of interpretive signing. A historic cabin is located along the interpretive trail which travels over the Mill Pond Spillway. A scenic drive along the International Selkirk Loop offers numerous scenic attractions. Several forest road systems in the immediate vicinity offer great views of the Selkirk Mountains. Sullivan Lake is about four miles southeast of Metaline Falls, a quaint town with historic buildings. Crawford State Park is located on the west side of the Pend Oreille River near the U.S.- Canada border. In the summer, a park ranger conducts under-ground tours of Gardiner Cave, the main attraction at this park. Seattle City Light offers tours of their Boundary Hydroelectric Project, on the main-stem Pend Oreille River one mile from the international border.
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 your site at any time during this period, your reservation will be null and void and your site will be given it to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Bears and cougars occur in the area. Any time you are away from your campsite and when sleeping at night, you are required to store all food, beverages, garbage and other attractants so they are unavailable to bears and other wildlife. Proper storage is usually in your vehicle or an approved container. See the campground host for further details.
Limit 1 vehicle per site; this facility has no parking space for additional vehicles. Off-highway vehicle operation is prohibited in the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
You can rent paddleboards at the campground. Reserve them ahead of time 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.
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
For more information on Colville National Forest, click here
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- 7
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…fire ring . Drinking water, accessible vault toilets, garbage service and food storage containers are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…with a picnic table and fire ring . Drinking water, accessible vault toilets, garbage service and food…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Swimming
- Visitor center
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 96th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 2
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $31 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 11 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. 10 of the 11 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.
| WEST | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | $31 | ||
| WEST | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 97 ft | 363 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 97 ft | 454 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 71 ft | 494 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 71 ft | 556 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 71 ft | 550 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 007 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | yes | 71 ft | 616 ftSullivan Lake | $31 |
| WEST | 008 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 105 ft | 271 ftSullivan Lake | $31 | |
| WEST | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 134 ft | 196 ftSullivan Lake | $31 | |
| WEST | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 129 ft | 451 ftSullivan Lake | $31 | |
| WEST | PAVILION | day use | yes | 281 ft | 99 ftSullivan Lake | $60 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t 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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
East SullivanColville National Forest · 0.3 miMill Pond CampgroundSullivan Lake Water Reserve Withdrawal · 0.5 miWest Sullivan CampgroundColville National Forest · 1.5 mi
Noisy CreekColville National Forest · 5.4 mi
Edgewater CampgroundColville National Forest · 9.1 miSilver Creek CampgroundColville National Forest · 11 miCampground is located 90 miles from Spokane. , From the junction of Highway 20, take Highway 31 north towards Ione for 3 miles.. About 1 mile south of Ione, turn onto the Sullivan Lake Road (County Road 9345). Travel 12 miles to the north end of Sullivan Lake. Campground is located across from the Ranger Station.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Metaline Falls, WA
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
West Sullivan is in Washington’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Michael Baumgartner (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →