Idaho opens tent campground along Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
A 26-site tent-only campground near Smelterville gives bikepackers a new overnight stop on the 73-mile Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes and aims to boost Silver Valley businesses.
A 26-site tent-only campground has opened near Smelterville, adding a new overnight stop for bikepackers and touring cyclists on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. The site sits just north of Shoshone County Airport and is built for bike-in and walk-in users with secure bike parking, a shower house, potable water, e-bike charging, tent pads and hammock posts.
The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality announced the project on Nov. 12, 2024, with construction planned for 2025. State officials said the land-use changes open up almost 200 acres for public recreation and economic expansion in North Idaho, tying the campground to both outdoor tourism and redevelopment in the Silver Valley.
The campground is part of a trail corridor that already has a strong regional draw. The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes runs 73 paved miles between Mullan and Plummer and was created through a partnership among the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Union Pacific Railroad, the U.S. government and the State of Idaho. Idaho state park materials say the trail was named one of the nation’s top 25 trails in 2010 by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation says it includes 20 developed trailheads and 20 scenic waysides.
For trail users, the new campground fills a practical gap between long riding days and limited lodging choices along parts of the route. The state designed it for people moving through on bikes or on foot, a setup that should help cyclists break up multi-day trips and spend more time in the corridor’s small communities.
The site also sits inside the larger Bunker Hill Superfund area, where mining and milling in the Silver Valley began in the mid-1880s and left heavy metal contamination across northern Idaho and eastern Washington. The Environmental Protection Agency added the Bunker Hill Superfund Site to the National Priorities List in 1983. By turning part of that landscape into trail lodging, Idaho is pushing the corridor toward a bigger role as both a recreation destination and an overnight stop for visitors buying supplies, meals and lodging in nearby towns.
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