While staying at Farragut State Park in Idaho recently, I flew my drone, and recorded some footage of our coach, the campground, and a view of Lake Pend Oreille.
Author: David
McGregor Lakes RV
We stayed at McGregor Lakes RV in Marion, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A one-night stay, with a restaurant across the road.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-09-01
- Check out: 2022-09-02
- 1 night
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temp at 87°F, low at 52°F
- No real wind
Noise:
- Some highway road noise, train noise
- Not much neighbor noise
Site:
- #4, pull through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; we left it connected, since only staying one night
- Somewhat level
- Medium site: about 90 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
- Didn’t connect water or sewer, since only one night
- Picnic table and fire pit on grass
- A few small trees
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 9-25 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
- AT&T: no service
- Verizon: no service
- T-Mobile: no service
- Campground Wi-Fi: limited, not used
Amenities:
- Dumpsters
- No pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice spot for a quick stop
We stayed here one night on our way to Glacier. Our site was reasonably level, and it was easy access to the highway but without any road noise. Having the lodge restaurant across the street was very nice on a travel day. We camped at McGregor Lakes RV in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
Our site:
A video of the bedroom slide coming out:
Paladin in the steps:
View across the road:
The Lodge:
Lake view:
Food:
Sunset:
Sign:
A good idea; using a bucket to carry a water softener (something I plan to get one day):
Other sites:
Video: Athol, Idaho to Marion, Montana motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 170 miles from Athol, Idaho to Marion, Montana.
Travel from Athol, Idaho to Marion, Montana
We drove our coach 170 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Athol, Idaho to Marion, Montana.
The map route, heading northeast then southeast:
Our coach:
Getting ready to hook up our truck:
We used the dump station on the way out of the campground, since we didn’t have a sewer:
Entering US-95:
Roadworks:
A barn:
Paladin not overly concerned:
Jenn changed the settings on the TV, and now the mirrored GPS is in color instead of grayscale. Yay!
Jenn driving:
US-95 bridge over Lake Pend Oreille:
A train station:
North of Lake Pend Oreille is a town called Ponderay, which is how the lake is pronounced:
A Pringles snack while driving down the road:
A seaplane:
Canada or Kalispell; hint, not going to Canada (yet; probably in a few years):
Entering Montana, and Mountain Time Zone:
A stream:
Kootenai River:
Car on a pole in Libby:
Bird on a pole:
Bees!
Middle Thompson Lake:
McGregor Lake:
Our destination for one night, McGregor Lakes RV Park:
Beaver Bay Beach
Near the campground was a nice sandy swimming beach tucked into a cove, called Beaver Bay Beach.
Here’s an interactive map:
Entrance to the beach road:
Our bikes by the snack shack:
A glimpse of the beach through the trees:
A nice swimming beach:
The lake:
A barrier between the swimming and boating portions:
Paddling:
A bird was chased by a bald eagle, and dropped a fish:
We went back to the beach again another day:
We went for a swim. I took my phone into the water (it’s waterproof), and captured some pictures of a fish that was interested in us:
Us in the water:
Underwater pic of a rock:
Underwater view of the sun:
Ducks:
A nice swimming beach:
Farragut Museum at the Brig
We did a bike ride around Farragut State Park. One of the places we visited was Farragut Museum at the Brig, a museum in what was the naval prison on the naval training grounds.
Our bikes out front:
The US Navy Brig entrance:
The courtyard:
Fire engine:
Museum at the Brig:
Admiral Farragut:
Naval training center map:
A couple of cells:
Exhibits:
A model of the gym:
Women of WWII:
Another cell:
Flags:
A sailor statue:
Faces:
The front of the brig again:
Gilmore West Campground in Farragut State Park
We stayed at Gilmore West Campground in Farragut State Park in Athol, Idaho. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Not a bad campground, but too expensive for out-of-staters.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-08-27
- Check out: 2022-09-01
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 77-95°F, lows around 49-60°F
- A little wind
Noise:
- No road noise, some train noise
- Not much neighbor noise
Site:
- #306, back in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Somewhat level
- Large site: about 90 feet long by about 70 feet wide
- Partial hookups:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 30 PSI water pressure; conveniently located
- No sewer connection
- Picnic table and fire pit on gravel
- Large trees
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 9-17 Mbps down, 5-10 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- AT&T: 13-24 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Verizon: 8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Dumpsters
- No pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic state park site for a deluxe resort price
The Good: This is a beautiful park with easy access to Lake Pend Oreille. The sites are mostly tucked into the trees, and they’re decently sized.
The Bad: Only one loop of the Gilmore campground has full hookups, and we were not in it.
The Ugly: For a non-Idaho resident to stay here in a motorhome with a tow vehicle, they charge nearly double the camping fees, and then they charge an extra “day use fee” for the tow vehicle, bringing the total to $90/night for a site without sewer. We’ve stayed at deluxe RV resorts for less than that. We camped at Farragut State Park in a Motorhome.
The RV park maps:
Gilmore West and East… I think we hadn’t noticed that West doesn’t have sewer, which wasn’t ideal after another campground without sewer, but it was fine:
Our site was pretty spacious:
Utilities; no sewer:
The cell service wasn’t great, so we set up the Starlink dish; fortunately this site had lots of open sky:
A few lingering spiders from the previous campground:
Looking around the campground; the bathroom:
Other sites:
Not strictly part of the campground, but a coffee house in a nearby town:
Lake Pend Oreille. Which is apparently pronounced PONDER-RAY:
I flew my drone:
Edit to add: a few more aerial shots:
Video: Plymouth, Washington to Athol, Idaho motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 217 miles from Plymouth, Washington to Athol, Idaho.
Travel from Plymouth, Washington to Athol, Idaho
We drove our coach 217 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Plymouth, Washington to Athol, Idaho.
The map route, heading northeast:
Since we didn’t have a sewer hookup at Plymouth Park Campground, we used the campground dump station on the way out:
Leaving the campground:
A stowaway spider inside:
Skoolie:
Bikers:
Bridge:
Exit towards Spokane:
Paladin:
Passing Coyote Run RV Park, where we stayed one night on the way home from Yellowstone last year:
US-395:
Exit to a rest area:
Rest area:
Paladin:
Back on US-395:
I-90:
Sprague Lake:
Petro truck stop:
Some interesting (but gloomy) architecture in Spokane, Washington:
Paladin again:
Welcome to Idaho:
Farragut exit:
Farragut State Park:
Checking in:
Paladin on the dash, driving to the campground:
Plymouth Park Campground
We stayed at Plymouth Park Campground in Plymouth, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Spiders!
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-08-24
- Check out: 2022-08-27
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 96-99°F, lows around 63-66°F
- A little wind
Noise:
- No road noise or train noise
- No neighbor noise
Site:
- #32, pull through, asphalt
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Fairly level
- Large site: about 90 feet long by about 90 feet wide
- Partial hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- Water not used due to boil notice (we arrived with full tank)
- No sewer connection
- Picnic table and fire pit on gravel
- Large trees
- Spiders!
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 22-82 Mbps down, 8-16 Mbps up, 95 ms ping
- Verizon: 0.1 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 800 ms ping
- AT&T: 26 Mbps down, 13 Mbps up, 58-122 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: unknown
Amenities:
- Dumpsters
- No pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Not for the Arachnophobic
This is a beautiful park, right along the Columbia River. When we arrived, we particularly enjoyed the large shade trees and green space at each site. However, when we woke up the next day, it was as if we’d spent the night in Mirkwood. Spiders. Spiders everywhere. All over our motorhome and tow vehicle. Every nook and cranny had spider webs and a resident spider (orb weavers, so not harmful, but still). Looking up at the trees, it was obvious that there was a major infestation as there were spiders hanging between every branch. I am not arachnophobic, but it really made me not want to sit outside. It’s probably just the time of year, and it may not be such an issue any other month, but it was really, really bad at the end of August. I spoke to another camper who had been planning on staying a week but was going to leave the next day because they didn’t want to deal with the spiders. I kind of wish we’d left earlier than planned as well. We knocked down as many as we could see before we left, drove over 200 miles, and are still dealing with them a couple of days later.
It should also be noted that they were having some issues with the water system at the park and issued a boil notice, so you need to be prepared with your own water supply before coming. If they resolve the water issue and the spider issue, I’d be happy to stay here again because it really was lovely otherwise. We camped at Plymouth Park Campground in a Motorhome.
The RV park maps:
Our site:
A bug:
Spiders!
Other RVs:
Playground:
A nice campground… other than the minor detail of the spider infestation, and unavailable water and sewer.