Agency-listedSeattle City LightFreeOpen today
Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Drive-up · public land · WA · 48.98425, -117.35109
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →The land manager lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
A free, developed, year-round campground run by an electric utility a mile from the Canadian border -- and it is genuinely free, in Seattle City Light's own words: 'Free. First-come, first-served. No reservations.' The Forebay Recreation Area sits above Boundary Dam on the Pend Oreille River, and City Light lists 22 campsites, 12 of them RV sites that will take a Class C, all with fire rings and picnic tables, plus flush toilets and potable water. There are no hookups, no dump station and no showers, so come self-contained. Stays are capped at six consecutive nights. Know the drive before you commit: from Metaline on WA-31 it is about eleven miles up Boundary Dam Road (County Road 2975) to the dam -- this is not a park in town, it is a long run up a county road into the Selkirks, and the nearest groceries and fuel are back in Metaline Falls or Ione. The campground is open year-round on paper, but City Light warns that 'in winter, water may not be available, and roads may not be plowed' -- treat anything past October as a call-ahead. No Discover Pass is needed; this is utility land, not a state park, which is exactly why it is free. The reason a place this good costs nothing is the dam: public recreation is a condition of the federal licence City Light operates it under. There is a visitor gallery and dam tours in season if you want to see what you are camped above. Confirm the current rules with Seattle City Light (509-446-3083) before you go, buy your supplies in the valley towns on the way through, and leave it better than you found it.
Can I go now? — Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA
Open today Year-round per the agency record.
public land record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,010 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)NIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- DDump35 mi
- LLaundry38 mi
- MMechanic39 mi
- +Urgent care39 mi
- OOutfitter40 mi
- ShShower40 mi
- WWater47 mi
- RxPharmacy57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 47-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
2,010 ft
Ground slope
0.4% · flat
Nearest rail line
~8.5 mi · other track
State
WA
Coordinates
48.98425, -117.35109
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePend Oreille River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townNelway · ~2.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.5 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesThe Falls Market · ~8.5 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~14.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicKootenay Boundary Regional Hospital · ~17.9 mi
- HardwareNorthport Hardware · ~19.9 mi
EV charging — from Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.8 mi straight-line S — Tiger Historical Museum, Cusick, WA (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 5 within 50 · 47 within 100 · 71 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)91.2 mi — Liberty Lake, WA - Tesla Supercharger, Liberty Lake
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.5 mi — Metaline Falls Visitor Center · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 456457 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCrescent Lake · ~1.7 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPit Toilet Structure - Everett Slough · ~2.3 mi S · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletPit Toilet Structure - Ledbetter Cove · ~4.2 mi S · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletPit Toilet Structure - Grandview · ~7.0 mi S · BLM
Coming out here — Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · Colville National Forest · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Pend Oreille River as a perennial river, ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.4% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~8.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~8.6 mi from the pin. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) elsewhere
Other camps near Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Crescent Lake Campground~1.7 mi
- Boundary Reservoir Recreation Area~2.2 mi
- Moon Flats~9.0 mi
- Silver Creek Campground~9.3 mi
The unit that manages Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) are set by Colville National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Open season
Year-round
Stay limit
6 nights (limited to six consecutive nights)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Source (FREE stated by the OPERATOR): Seattle City Light's own page, seattle.gov/city-light/in-the-community/tours-recreation-and-education/boundary-tours-and-recreation (read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'Free. First-come, first-served. No reservations.'; '22 Campsites, including 12 RV sites; Class C RVs can be accommodated.'; 'Stays are limited to six consecutive nights.'; 'Open year-round. Note: In winter, water may not be available, and roads may not be plowed.'; 'Flush toilets and potable water available. No hook-ups, dump station, or showers. All campsites have fire rings and picnic tables.'; directions 'Leave Highway 31 in the town of Metaline, WA, and follow Boundary Dam Rd. (County Road 2975) approximately 11 miles until you reach the dam.' CORROBORATION (not the source): OSM way/469267022 'Forebay Recreation Area' is tagged tourism=camp_site, fee=no, capacity:caravans=12, capacity:tents=6, drinking_water=yes, toilets=yes, shower=no, sanitary_dump_station=no, power_supply=no, reservation=no, and links that same SCL page -- an OSM fee tag is a candidate, never a source (county-fairground fire, Lesson 3), so the operator page carries this. COORDINATE: TRUE area-weighted polygon centroid of way/469267022 from api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6/way/469267022/full.json (33-node closed ring), ray-cast point-in-polygon inside=True -> 48.984248,-117.351091. GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed and free; NO entry fee, access pass or Discover Pass -- this is Seattle City Light utility land under its FERC licence, not WA State Parks. land_manager='Seattle City Light'; dispersed=0; camp_type NULL; water='potable (seasonal -- may be off in winter)' per the operator's own wording. FLAG FOR REVIEW: existing published row blm/911 'Boundary Reservoir Recreation Area' (48.95365,-117.33742) is 2.20 mi south -- outside the 0.5 mi dedup radius and a different name and manager, so NOT merged, but if it proves to be a mis-located record of the same complex, kill one. Ingest 2026-07-28.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Reading your camp page →All field notes →