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) · public land · WA

Open today Year-round per the agency record.

public land record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam)

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) · public land · WA

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · 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

State

Coordinates

48.98425, -117.35109

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) · public land · WA (OpenStreetMap)

Water featurePend Oreille River (river) · nearby
Nearest townNelway · ~2.6 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) · public land · 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) · public land · 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

Open Forebay Recreation Area (Boundary Dam) elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

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

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 →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Reading your camp page →All field notes →

Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →