Camping at Round Lake State Park — Stuck in North Idaho

This year, we decided to kick off the unofficial start of summer the best way we know how - camping and hiking with good friends. We spent the first part of Memorial Day weekend camping at Round Lake State Park, just south of Sandpoint. Although Round Lake is a popular spot for people across northern Idaho, it’s surprisingly small but offers plenty of activities for summer and winter. In addition to some nature walks around the perimeter of the lake, there’s also a nice beach area and small boat launch. Visitors can fish, canoe or paddleboard, bike, and birdwatch all within the immediate area. Of course, there’s plenty more to do if you want to venture out a bit, but for a short weekend trip, Round Lake has you covered. There’s also plenty of wildlife to check out. Bullfrogs, turtles, waterfowl, and beaver are all over. I loved the gorgeous lily pads surrounding the edges of the water, very picturesque. We loaded up the Subaru on Friday afternoon. Kyle, Tom, and Greg rode motorcycles - well, Greg rode on Tom’s motorcycle in lieu of hanging in the back with the dogs - and Kelsey and I took the (very full) Subie with the dogs.

Round Lake is about an hour’s drive from Coeur d’Alene, making it perfectly accessible for shorter trips, but it has the amenities to stay a while if you feel like sticking around. The campground has 35 regular camping spots and 16 with hookups. While the spots are good-sized, it is an actual campground so you can see your neighbors on all sides. We typically try to find more secluded camp spots but sometimes it’s nice to have access to a real restroom and a designated spot for a campfire. The easy access to the trails, water and “creature comforts” of home make it a great spot to camp with children or for those that aren’t too into roughing it in the woods.

We spent the evening sipping libations, playing games, and rocking out to our favorite 90’s tunes before turning in for the night. Apparently we were enjoying Tom’s playlist a bit too much because the park ranger asked us to keep it down a bit. I thought for sure he’d be thankful that we were doing our part to deter any bears, but hey, whatever.

A couple notes on this trip:

Bring plenty of bug spray. The mosquito situation was pretty intense, not even the deet stopped them from biting.
If you bring your dog be prepared for tree sap - it’s everywhere. Juneau still has a couple of sappy dreads hanging on.

Getting there

From Coeur d’Alene, head north on Highway 95 for about 45 minutes. Turn left at the Round Lake State Park turnoff. Boom, that’s it.

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It was so nice to get back out after only camping once or twice last year. I’m looking forward to many more weekend getaways as summer rolls on. Happy Camping!