Agency-listedIdaho PowerFree
Swan Falls River Access
Drive-up · Idaho Power · ID · 43.24535, -116.37859
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 →Idaho Power 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.
Fifteen free campsites on the Snake River below Swan Falls Dam, and 'free' is Idaho Power's own word for it: the utility's page lists the fee as 'Free. No usage fees.' and the site as 'Day use and overnight camping'. This is the reason a place like this exists -- Idaho Power holds a federal licence to run the dam, and public recreation is part of the deal, so the campground is provided rather than sold. You get 15 RV/tent sites with fire rings, a vault toilet and a boarding platform for boats. There are no water or electric hookups, so arrive self-contained and haul your own drinking water -- we are not claiming a water source here, because the utility does not. The stay limit is 14 days, one camping unit and no more than eight people per site. Idaho Power also asks that you not burn pallets anywhere around Swan Falls. Know which Swan Falls you are driving to: the utility runs three separate facilities at this dam, and SWAN FALLS PARK, the one with the picnic shelters, is DAY-USE ONLY -- no overnight camping there at all. This one is the river access downriver of the dam. The road in drops off the Snake River Plain into the canyon on a long gravel grade through the Morley Nelson Birds of Prey country south of Kuna, which is spectacular and slow; there are no services down there, so fuel and shop before you drop in. Confirm current conditions with Idaho Power (1-800-488-6151) before a shoulder-season trip, pack out everything, and leave it better than you found it.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Swan Falls River Access
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,294 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Swan Falls River AccessNIFC · 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 Swan Falls River Access · Idaho Power · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery9 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- WWater20 mi
- EVEV fast charger24 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
- AAir-up31 mi
- DDump32 mi
- ShShower51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 20-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — Swan Falls River Access
Access
Drive-up
Land
Idaho Power
Elevation
2,294 ft
Ground slope
12.9% · noticeable
State
ID
Coordinates
43.24535, -116.37859
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Swan Falls River Access · Idaho Power · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSnake River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townMurphy · ~8.9 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelDan's Ferry Services · ~13.0 mi
- Propane / LPGBlue Rhino · ~17.7 mi
- GroceriesAlbertsons · ~16.9 mi
- PharmacyAlbertsons Pharmacy · ~16.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicFamily Medicine Health Center · ~16.8 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~17.7 mi
EV charging — from Swan Falls River Access · Idaho Power · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger23.9 mi straight-line N — Kendall Meridian Ford · Blink Network · J1772, CCS · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 25 within 50 · 31 within 100 · 53 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)24.2 mi — WinCo Foods - Tesla Supercharger, Meridian
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO24.4 mi — Walmart 2508 (Boise, ID) (Boise, ID), Boise
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.7 mi — Ridley’s Family Markets - Tesla Destination, Kuna, ID · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Candlewood Suites Boise Meridian, Meridian, 23.7 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only · AFDC lists it “$0.40 per kWh”
- 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 316568 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Swan Falls River Access · Idaho Power · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomDedication Point Toilet 1 · ~2.3 mi N · BLM
- RestroomDedication Point Toilet 2 · ~2.3 mi N · BLM
- RestroomSwan Falls Fisherman'S Point Toilet · ~2.6 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomSwan Falls River Canyon Trailhead Toilet · ~3.9 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — Swan Falls River Access · Idaho Power · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Snake River as a perennial river, ~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 12.9% — noticeable. 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 Swan Falls River Access elsewhere
Other camps near Swan Falls River Access
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Rabbit Creek Ohv Trail~9.2 mi
- Morley Nelson Snake River Birds Of Prey National Conservation Area~10.9 mi
How we know this — Swan Falls River Access
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day stay limit)
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): Idaho Power's own page for Swan Falls River Access (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/parks-and-campgrounds/swan-falls-river-access/, read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'Day use and overnight camping'; 'Fees Free. No usage fees.'; 'Located downriver of Swan Falls Dam.'; 'Amenities include the following: 15 RV/tent sites No water or electric hookups Vault toilet Fire rings Boarding platform'; 'There is a 14-day stay limit for all parks.'; 'Only one camping unit (maximum eight persons) per designated campsite is permitted.'; 'Burning pallets is prohibited in and around the Swan Falls area.' Idaho Power's own fee page (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/about-parks-and-campgrounds/fees-2/, read 2026-07-28): 'Day use at all Idaho Power parks and recreation sites is free.' That page NAMES the nine campgrounds that charge overnight (Copperfield, Hells Canyon, McCormick, Woodhead, Carters Landing, North, Scout, Cottonwood, Locust -- $15-$40/night plus a $7-$15 reservation fee). This site is NOT one of them, and its own page carries the header 'Day use and overnight camping' and the fee block 'Free. No usage fees.' COORDINATE: the utility's OWN published coordinate from the Get-directions link on that page (daddr=43.245354,-116.378591), ground-truthed against OSM -- slipway node/2525192827 0.01 mi, service road 0.01 mi, parking 0.04 mi, toilets node/3670938299 0.04 mi, waste_disposal 0.03 mi, and node/126161573 'Swan Falls' operator='Idaho Power Co' 0.10 mi. That OSM furniture matches the page's own amenity list (boat ramp, vault toilet). Nominatim reverse: Ada County, Idaho. TRAP LOGGED: Idaho Power's SWAN FALLS RESERVOIR BOAT LAUNCH (a separate free 5-site camp, 'Located upriver of Swan Falls Dam') publishes a coordinate byte-identical to SWAN FALLS PARK, which is 'Day-use only' -- a borrowed pin. It is also 0.21 mi from this one, inside the 0.5 mi dedup radius, so it was HELD rather than banked. Do not conflate the three Swan Falls facilities. GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed by the operator; NO entry fee, access pass, day-use fee or permit to be on the land (utility land, not a state park -- no Discover-Pass-style trap). fee=0; dispersed=0 (designated sites); camp_type NULL for Dave to set on review. water NULL -- the page says 'No water or electric hookups'. Ingest 2026-07-28.
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 Swan Falls River Access
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 — Swan Falls River Access
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Cold-weather camping →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →