Clark Fork Drift Yard

We camped here three nights. We chose the first gravel lot on the right as you come down the dirt road. There was already an Airstream here but plenty of room for multiple rigs. Sites from a previous review, in the grass by the water, were not accessible. The next gravel lot also had room for multiple rigs. There are a fair amount of people going in and out with boats being towed but were barely noticeable.

This spot was only about 20 miles from Sandpoint. A great little town with restaurants, breweries, shops, and a great beach. We went to the beach twice.

Verizon provided plenty of bandwidth for me to work one day and for us to stream.

I have to admit, when we first rolled up to Clark Fork Drift Yard, we weren't sure how we felt about it, but as we settled in, we began to love the space. You're basically in a gravel parking lot (until a couple other sites open towards the end of May), but it's such a peaceful area. If you SUP or have a kayak, etc. it's an awesome area to launch your craft and get out on the water. I added a video to the page that shows the areas and some things to know, including the follow:

- 3 day stay limit
- Train runs by pretty consistently
- Lot's of geese and geese poop (if you have a naughty dog)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLpBT1EQu_0

This Is A Flat Area Next To A Boat Launch. We Were Dog sitting So Had 3 Dogs With Us. There Was Plenty Of room for them to run. There is also great walking along the levies. Didn’t take long for the 2 labs to find the Clark’s Fork river and in they went.
There were 3 other units camped here. We spent the one night and then off to continue our adventure.

Arrived after dark. The dirt road is easy to miss if your map app doesn’t give sufficient warning for the turn off.

Washboard, single lane road coming in, but opens up to a nice space with plenty of room to turn around. Ours is 25 footer, but looks like even a big diesel pusher could maneuver in the area.

It’s nice and quiet at night. I heard a train, but no train horn. There were. few other campers, but plenty of space.

If for some reasons it’s full, there were plenty of roadside turn offs between this location and Sandpoint which could be used for an overnight.

In this video, I show you free camping at Clark Fork Drift Yard on Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. I provide a walking tour of the three day free camping area at Clark Fork Drift Yard and showcase the amenities available at the recreation site. Clark Fork Drift Yard is administered by the Idaho Department of Fish and Wildlife. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 18.3 Mbps download speed and 11.0 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 2.85 Mbps download speed and 1.11 Mbps upload speed. There was no T-Mobile cellular service at this location.

Beautiful, well maintained waterside area. If you have a kayak or paddle board, you’ll love the easy put-in.

When we showed up mid-day Saturday in the middle of summer, we were worried there would be no spots left. The best spots close to the water were taken, but there was still plenty of room for us. We had no problems!

5 or 10 minutes from the town of Clark Fork. We liked stopping in at the Cabinet Mt. bar and grill for Saturday night karaoke and inexpensive drinks.

Note there is a 3 day maximum.

There is a nearby train, but it wasn’t too loud. It didn’t bother us.

Great Verizon internet - no issues streaming. AT&T was spotty and slow.