Campsite Review: Outlet Campground Priest Lake is located at the very south end of Priest Lake just east of State Highway 57 and north of Outlet Bay. The outlet of Priest Lake is the beginning of the Priest River which flows south from Priest Lake to the Pend Oreille River.
We really like the Outlet Campground at Priest Lake.
Details
Website: Outlet Campground at Priest Lake. Online Reservations: recreation.gov
Address: 1083 W Lakeshore Rd, Priest River, ID 83856
Link to Google Map for the area: Outlet Campground Priest Lake
Phone Number/Reservations: (877) 444-6777 email and chat also available
Dates stayed: July 24 – 29, 2020
Price Paid: $10.50 per night, plus “transaction” fee. Here is a link to the article I wrote on how I get such a low price. FoxRVTravel-Snippet: America The Beautiful Pass
Our Site: #4, other sites listed below would fit our RV better, ours was challenging to enter, and has limited space for our car, but was still very nice.
Hook-ups: None
Dump station: No
Potable Water: Yes
Water to fill your RV storage tank: No
Cell service: Verizon weak and AT&T – very weak
Observations
FoxRVTravel-Campsite Review: Outlet Campground Priest Lake insider info:
The Outlet campground is divided into three distinct areas. We are camping in the west loop which seems to be newer and has larger sites. Sites # 2,3,6,7,9,10 were plenty big enough with enough maneuvering room for our RV. Unfortunately, we were in site 4 which is long enough, and wide enough but barely has enough maneuvering room for us to get into the spot.
The north loop is closer to the lake and has much more shade. After you round the corner in the loop there is two roadside/lakeside sites that have enough room for about three RVs in each pull-out. From these sites, you have direct access to the lake. Next to each pull-out is a level spot for tents. These lakeside sites are the “premium” sites and cost a little more. They are also ideal for groups.
Also along the lake, between our loop and the lake is the third area which has smaller individual sites which are also next to the lake.
Bonus
Priest Lake is the bonus, especially for boating, but also for hiking and bicycling. The lake is very large and deep. It is a natural lake which only means that the dam, at the outlet to the river, is natural. The lake water level is pretty consistent and only varies a small amount. This makes for a beautiful shoreline.
Caution
FoxRVTravel-Campsite Review: Outlet Campground Priest Lake insider info:
The following picture is taken directly from the government reservation website. It is one hundred percent deceiving. The campground at the north of the picture is labeled Outlet campground. The problem here is that the location of the campground is at the southern marker. The southern marker is labeled Osprey Campground, it is not at the marked location, nor is it at the northern location, instead, it is at along the shoreline to the north of this map.
The campground layout map also can’t be trusted. Sites 14-17 are the pull out sites along the road I previously mentioned. The road makes a 180-degree turn north of site 17 and heads south down to site 14-17. There is also road between sites 26 and 27 and so on which leads to the 180-degree turn.
The south loop road on the campground layout is also wrong, this is a loop, not a dead-end. After passing site #11 it makes a right turn and leads back towards site #9.
I didn’t include site #10 in the above pictures because it’s location, near #9 and 11 isn’t represented correctly on the campground maps.
As you can see, the tree cover makes the satellite view very hard to discern which campsite to pick.
