Agency-listedUSFSFee
Kalispell Island Sites
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · ID · 48.56704, -116.89945
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 237V (Kalispell Tract), 0.8 mi away. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Kalispell Island Sites
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,605 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Kalispell Island SitesNIFC · 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 Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery3 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- DDump5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- EVEV fast charger24 mi
- WWater24 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
- MMechanic24 mi
- +Urgent care24 mi
- RxPharmacy26 mi
- ShShower27 mi
- PPropane59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 24-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
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 — Kalispell Island Sites
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,605 ft
Ground slope
19.5% · steep
State
ID
Coordinates
48.56704, -116.89945
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePriest Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townCoolin · ~6.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~4.8 mi
- GroceriesKorner Market · ~3.4 mi
- PharmacySandpoint Super Drug · ~25.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicBonner General Immediate Care · ~24.4 mi
- HardwareTamrak Hardware Store · ~3.8 mi
EV charging — from Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger23.8 mi straight-line SW — Kalispel Market and Casino, Cusick, WA · EVCS · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 10 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 51 within 100 · 87 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)59.5 mi — Coeur d'Alene, ID - Tesla Supercharger, Coeur d'Alene
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.4 mi — Priest Lake Motorsports, Priest River, ID · NOODOE · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 434935 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletKalispell Island Sites · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKalispell Bay Boat Launch · ~1.4 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKalispell Bay Day Use Area · ~1.4 mi SW · USFS
- Flush restroomLuby Bay · ~1.6 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Kalispell Island Sites · Idaho Panhandle National Forests · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Priest Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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 19.5% — steep. 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Kalispell Island Sites elsewhere
Other camps near Kalispell Island Sites
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Kalispell Island-002~0.2 mi
- Kalispell Island-022~0.3 mi
- Kalispell Island-034~0.3 mi
- Kalispell Island-028~0.3 mi
The unit that manages Kalispell Island Sites
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Kalispell Island Sites are set by Idaho Panhandle National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Kalispell Island Sites
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-21: $15 per night per boat-in site (access is by boat only). Two channels agree: the forest page and recreation.gov listing 233264 for the 2026-05-29 to 2026-09-14 season. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/idahopanhandle/recreation/kalispell-island-group-site-and-other-campgrounds (last updated December 5, 2025). || Water 2026-08-24 (nightshift fire 120): USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse Recreation Sites layer (apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0), extract cached locally as data\_mt_water_edw.json, objectid 2357150, site "KALISPELL ISLAND SITES" (recreation area "KALISPELL ISLAND SITES"), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "No drinking water is available". Matched to this camp on coordinates (0.0008 mi from the agency point). Agency record only -- not field-verified, and no natural water here is claimed to be potable. Agency site page: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233264
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 Kalispell Island Sites
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
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Kalispell Island Sites
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Off-grid communication →All field notes →