Best Tent Camping near Coolin, ID

Tent camped on RV spot. All spots have a leveled sand square for tents. Trees offered shade. No privacy due to layout. Tent spots appear to offer more privacy. However, be warned that the access road for tent sites is steep and bumpy. Pit toilets with no other amenities. Camp host is friendly enough. Camp is so close to the day use area. Perfect to go swim or paddle board.

This campground seems to be designed for and attract mostly RV campers with boats since there is a boat launch at this facility. There are only 6 small tent camping spots right next to the dam's bright lights. The tent sites are VERY close together so there is a lack of privacy and only 1 tent spot per site. Campsites have a fire ring and picnic table. We noticed that the campground sprinklers come on in the morning and spray the tent sites so beware of where you place your tent. There is a potable water spigot next to where the tent site parking is but the bathrooms are a little bit of a walk. We didn't see any staffing while we were there but the bathrooms, which had flushable toilets and handwashing sinks, were well maintained. There is a picnic shelter area and rocky shore area you can hang out on. Pee Wee Falls is a short paddle (1/4 mile?) around the right side bend from the boat launch area. We went Labor Day weekend and we were the only tent campers the first night (Friday) and then a single tent camper showed up the next day. The RV sites were packed full when we arrived very late Friday night. We had a great stay since we were one of the only tent campers and it's a free campground with all the basic amenities we needed to be comfortable.

The Gilmore Loop Campground is one of a handful of campgrounds in Farragut State Park. It is a large campground boasting 91 rv/tent sites. There are several ADA sites as well as the most amenities I have ever seen in a campground. Even tho you could spend days exploring and playing in Farragut State Park, there are quite a few things to do outside of the park also.

Some amenities for this campground include:

RV/Tent Camping - (Some are ADA)

Onsite Tables/Fire Pits/Water/Electricity on all and Sewer on some

Nice and Clean Flush Restrooms and Showers

Firewood for sale onsite by the hosts and a well stocked General Store/Visitor Center in park

Payphones and extra Parking

Dump stations for RVs

Extensive Day Use Facilities - (Including 3 professional disc golf courses and a large Lake for a $5 fee)

Boat launch/Swimming/Fishing

Museum and Historical Sites

Loads of Hiking/Biking/Horse Trails

Some amenities close to this campground include:

Bayview - (A small lake town about 5 min to the East)

Silverwood Theme Park - (About a 10 min drive to the West)

Coeur'd Alene and Sandpoint - (Both 33 min drives to the South and North respectively)

The negatives for Gilmore are all subjective. I personally prefer a much more secluded campground, I can see this place being packed during the on-season. The sites are closer than I like, tho I have seen much closer sites elsewhere. The tent pads are gravel filled squares, I Like the feel of the ground under me while camping and these will necessitate a mat/airbed. Overall I love this place as a day use, and see myself camping here soon.

I worked at Priest Lake State Park as a residential biologist for the summer of 2016. It was an amazing experience! I had access to parts of the park not allowed to campers. The staff are all very friendly and nice to work with. The hand- scooped homemade ice cream is worth it alone! Kayaking up the thoroughfare to the upper lake is a great workout with some amazing and beautiful scenery and animals along the way. You will see lots of moose, and sometimes black bears. If you take the short hike to Moose lake, there is excellent rainbow trout fishing, and gorgeous scenery as well. Hunt lake trail is a beautiful trail to hike, but not for beginners. Priest Lake itself is a little chilly when first getting in to swim, but is very refreshing in the mountain heat. There are many good places to pick huckleberries all over the area! The campgrounds at the Indian Creek unit, which is where the headquarters and store are located, are very clean. There are plenty of RV and tent camping sites and 5 cabins available to rent. All cabins sleep different numbers of people, ranging from 5 to 9, the moose cabin being the largest and nicest. The cabins have no bathrooms or kitchens but boast fire rings and are right across from communal park bathrooms and showers. The lion head unit on the upper lake is about 12 miles up the road from Indian Creek turning into gravel about 8 miles up right before moose lake. It has a few smaller camper sites and many tent sites available. There is a maintenance shed along with a small ranger booth which also serves as a small store with ice and other foods and small supplies. There are first aid kits and radios available at all campground ranger booths. Priest lake has amazing fishing for rainbow trout, Mackinaw (lake trout), smallmouth bass, and Pike minnow (as the main species). The nearest town, Coolin, UD, is about 12 miles down the road. It is a small town with a store, a diner and a bar/ restaurant. The diner and restaurant have decent staple foods for what they have to offer. The store is fairly small but generally has most of the foods and supplies needed for restocking your camping food or obtaining the odds and ends you may have forgotten or overlooked at home. All around it is a beautiful place to visit with friendly staff and locals and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking an unforgettable family camping experience.

Tent camping at Whitetail campground has plenty of site room and good privacy. Camp hosts did an excellent job of keeping the campground clean. Restroom facilities and showers well kept and clean.

The tent sites are private and not too close together. Very nice campground host and clean restrooms. We spent the night in the upper section and it was peaceful and quiet.

KM and RPI rv resort, they do have a couple of designated tent sites, and 2 members-only cabins. Clubhouse is pretty much shut down, I guess you could say it has “long covid”, heh

I love the Colville National Forest and enjoy discovering different campgrounds within it.

I like to camp at Pioneer Park when I am in Newport visiting family and will always choose campsite 14! It is the best out of all the campsites there, very private, incredibly spacious, and with a nice trail to the water. I only tent camp so I don't know how accommodating it is for an RV, however.

Lionhead is by far my favorite campground of hundreds I’ve been to. it’s designed more for tent camping of very small rv’s such as truck campers or tent trailers. There are numerous trails to explore and the beach is beautiful white sand with crystal clear water. Indian Creek is also nice and has a store with everything you could need and ice cream by the scoop. Indian Creek also has full and partial hookup sites - free hot showers- and boat slips to rent.

Pulled into this campground in our RV in late September and only encountered one other party in the campground. Loved the remote setting. We were able to snag a spot close to the river, so we slept to the sound of rushing water. I’d estimate that half the primitive spots could fit a medium sized RV, the others are car/tent sites.

It's a relatively small loop campground along a creek, close to the Pend Oreille River. Gravel road, ideal for tent camping. When we camped there in September of 2017, there were 3 occupied spaces, all of whom left the next day so we had the whole campground to ourself. There were primitive bathrooms, and from my memory no running water. I also don't think we paid, because we couldn't find anyone to give money to. Maybe this is because it was fall, or maybe it's actually free. Either way, pleasant experience here!

This park was our first park to ever camp at, lucked out and caught an opening in the middle of the pandemic, booked it online and left 4 days later for a week of bliss in the woods. My first time to northern Idaho, it's absolutely breathtaking The lake itself is beautiful surrounded by tall pines and Lilly pads. The hiking trails are easy for all ages, though the big loop is something to take slow, and bring plenty of water to drink. The bullfrogs at night help you drift off to sleep. It rained 3 nights when we were there and it was some of the best sleep we've ever had. We had a rooftop tent on our 4 runner and it for perfect in the tent site. You don't have to be an rv to rent a site with water and electricity. It's definitely a spot we will add to our yearly travels.

We stayed in Whitetail tent campground, in the spring. It was not busy so it was peaceful - didn't hear other campers but we did hear some coyotes! Perhaps with more people the campsites are close, but I think that's the case when you stay in any state park campground. Close water spouts and the bathrooms were probably the nicest campground bathroom I've ever seen. Lake is beautiful, there are loads of trails and the disc golf courses are fun!

The volunteers were amazing so helpful and friendly! Camp site 12 is where you want to be especially if you like the sunshine. Only site on the river tent site only with bbq pit and picnic table and some shade. Bathrooms are close the fishing dock is closer and you could even swim in your own hole! The public beach is about 30 yards away and great for younger kids. Also from camp site 12 you can see the playground if you were to bring kids! They have free hot showers and firewood for sale on site as well. The rangers come give a presentation every third Friday I went and it was on all the different kinds of pines we have in INW.

I am a bit mixed about this campground. Our spot was really incredible. Site 12 is right on the river which provides impressive sunrise and sunsets. The river is calm in the mornings and evenings with fish jumping. However, there are some downsides to the spot and the campground that cannot be ignored. 1) It is very close to the highway so you hear the cars all day. Site 12 is as far away as you can get from it plus it has a great view so helps offset the road noise. Other sites don't have the view so the road noise would be even more annoying. 2) The campground is right next to a public beach. The water was nice in the summer but the river does have a lot of seaweed floating in it. Site 12 also happens to be closest to the beach. The noise from the bench is not bad. However, everyone from the campground walks right next to your site on their way to the beach. Also, site 12 gets full sun from about noon to sunset. There is shade but the tent site and parking are in the sun. 

LTDR - The view on the river here is a 5. The road noise and traffic from the beach goers pull this down to a 3 for me though. So I will give it a 4.

We stayed at Mount Spokane campground in August 2017. The price was $12 for one night and $8 for an additional car. The campground itself is very small (6 spots). They do not allow reservations. It doesn't seem like a heavily used campground, possibly because of it's close proximity to the city or maybe because there are no swimming areas nearby. There was only one other family camping while we were there. Site #4 (where we stayed) has tall trees that provide shade, a bit of a view, and a nice place to put up a tent. Site 1 is shaded by tall trees but it's very close to the bathrooms. Sites 2, 3, and 5 are in the middle of the campground, not much shade or privacy, but great if you have a group of campers that you want to be close to. Site 6 is a pull through for an RV and is fairly private and shady. We encountered A LOT of hikers and huckleberry pickers. There were still tons of berries left to be picked and we saw many people carrying buckets full. Plenty of bike trails, hiking trails, the old cabin you can visit, the Vista House, or you can go to the top where the views are amazing and they have viewing tubes that you can look through to identify the surrounding lakes. The temperature was about 20 degrees cooler than the city, which was a much needed break from the summer heat. We did some hiking and huckleberry picking too and made huckleberry pancakes for breakfast. Overall it was a pleasant little campground and we will definitely visit again.