Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Boise, ID

Bad Bear is a nice little campsite outside of Idaho City. The sites are good size with adequate privacy. There is lots of tree cover for shade during those warm summer days, and a babbling brook at the back of the campground. Each site had a picnic table, fire ring, and there is a well for water and a vault toilet. We enjoyed our stay here, mostly because there wasn't anyone else camping in the campground when we were there in mid-July! Score! We grabbed the big site, but the other sites seemed a bit small. Would recommend for a easy campsite close to Idaho City and just a quick little jaunt from Boise.

We stayed here over a weekend in the summer. This Campground is got an hour and a half from Boise and above Idaho City on the Highway 21. The last 20 or 30 minutes Beyond Idaho City going east is a pretty steep Winding Road and a little bit narrow. The longer your trailer and rig the more skill you will need to climb this route. Edna creek is just over Mores Creek Summit and it's it about five thousand feet. It's a great place to cool off. Campground is shaded in most cases. Nice variety of little spaces including a little bit of water going by some of the sites. It's a small cluster of sights on a loop road and again you'll need to maneuver tightly in a few of the corners. Definitely not for a large or long rigs.

Flood Waters washed out the bridge that connects Hwy 21 to the campsite in 2016.  

UPDATE:  Grayback Gulch is OPEN and a wonderful little campground a short drive from Boise.    No hookups, but the toilets are clean and there are two fresh water pumps.   Fishing is available in nearby Moores Creek.  If you can get a campsite along the north end, you may have walking access to a small stream that burps and gurgles down the hillside.   There may be ATV traffic as it's a popular location for families.  I really like using this as a quick 'getaway' overnight.

Located on the shore of Arrowrock reservoir, this camping area is bare bones. The road in is all gravel on a steep hillside along the shore and several miles to get in. Many potholes and ruts. It will take you about 20-30 minutes from Boise to get to the dam and then another 30 minutes to get to Irish point if you are towing a trailer. You'll have to go slow. This is a nice reservoir and great sunsets and some shoreline camping. In the late season, the water level is usually quite low making it difficult to launch boats. We have a 30ft travel trailer and once was probably enough for quite some time. Tough access. Bad road. The only site improvement at Irish Point is a vault toilet.

I have camped a couple times at Hot Springs campground. Pros are that it is easy to get to (campground is literally right off the highway), only about an hour and 20 minutes from Boise, and the amenities are nice (fire pits, tables, bathrooms, etc). The best part about this campground is it is right across the highway from an awesome little Hot Springs pool overlooking the river. Easy access any time of year. The main reason I gave it 3 stars is because I like to feel a little more secluded / not right beside the highway when I camp. On that note... Cons are that since it is so easy to access, it can often be very crowded, especially on weekends obviously. You do have to pay for parking / camping, and it is not very secluded - you can hear cars passing on the highway. There is some shade but not on every site. In my opinion, this campground would be best to camp at in early spring or fall.

This is an urban rv part. The sites are packed in very tightly so they can squeeze in as many people as possible. Shower and bathroom were ok. There is a pool, hot tub and small dog park. Not much else to do here. We stayed one night on our was to Craters of the Moon Np.

I've been a full-timer for several years now and have stayed in many parks. This is by far the cleanest, nicest park I have ever seen. The sites are wide, spacious and clean. Lush green grass and shady mature trees at every site. All concrete pads. Private bathrooms with showers! The dog park is stunning. The roads are paved and there's not a single piece of gravel in sight! You really have to see this place to believe it. It's like a little neighborhood!

I was here alone with my two dogs during the heatwave of June 2021 (104°+). The dogs and I didn't leave the RV much due to the heat. But we were parked next to the pool, it's small and busy late afternoon early evening. The little dog park was nice although we only used it a couple times since one of my dogs does not always get along well with other dogs.

5G and 2G wifi were excellent. Towers throughout property for access points. Never a week signal. I was able to telecommute and stream without any issues and never used my Hotspot or cell data.

I would have given 5 stars except for closeness of RVs, it's difficult to reserve a site, and because of the heat and my dogs, I didn't use any of the amenities or visit any destination.

I do prefer dispersed RV sites, however this site came through in a pinch for the heat wave.

The Cove Campground is similar, except it is on the west end of The Narrows, a favorite place for fishermen. There are RV camping sites as well as Tent sites. Each site has an firepit and picnic table. Pets are permitted but must be on a leash. We even put our pets in our kayaks when we went out fishing. Make sure you call the BLM for lake conditions, especially if camping during the winter months. The lake can freeze over during the winter. We went in January, but we still had water to fish on. There are outhouses there for camping use.

Well managed, clean, beautiful landscaping, level sites, clean restrooms, plenty of showers, supply store, full hookups, pet friendly, wifi in most of the park, excellent prices.

Like most (it seems) campgrounds, this place is badly in need of maintenance. When it rains, the "roads" (term used loosely) are mud puddles. Your site is too, unfortunately. Most of the park is long-term scum campers, junk all over the sites, loud trucks, loud music.

To top it off, many of these hobos take pleasure in putting dog food bowls of duck food out, so you can count on duck crap all over the place, on your rig, on your vehicle. The constant quacking makes you think you're on an island in the river. It will drive your dog nuts too.

The Greenbelt:

Pretty, but VERY overcrowded. If you're looking for some peace walking by the river, forget it. Spandex wearing cycle maggots, too self-important to even bother to say "on your left" or ring a bell, come ripping up behind you, inches away, as if they despise you "being in the way". Most are wearing mirror shades so they don't have to smile at anyone.

All in all, there are much better places to spend time in Idaho. Try Idaho Falls, or Twin Falls. Stanley and Coeur d'Alene are both gorgeous. Boise is basically California, including the the corresponding batch of jerks just like you find in California.

Originally planned to stay here three months, left after a few weeks. Obviously, won't be returning.

This RV Camping Site is AWESOME! They do allow tent camping and have cabins. They have full hookups for RV's as well. There is a lower rate for "back-ins" to the Boise River Greenbelt. They also have a higher rate for Pull Through Sites for RVs. There is so much to do in the area. Biking, hiking, walking along the Boise River. There is also some great fishing on the Boise River. This location is centered for city goers, snow skiers, white water rafters and anglers. We visited some nice restaurants within a short drive of the campgrounds. We rode our bikes along the trails, upstream and downstream. The campgrounds also rent bikes for those that don't have their own :-) You will not be disappointed with this campground if you want to get to know Boise, Idaho.

This place caters to the "money campers", those staying a few nights total. Several of the staff may be courteous and helpful to these travelers. But, several of their legacy employees ( who, in our estimation appear to be anti social alki's who only "work" there for free rent), are some truly nasty and hostile folks. I mean to say they will give you the evil eye, spray herbicide into your exterior pet water bowl, disturb your stay endlessly with yelling back and forth over mowers, weed eating multiple times per week all around your sites yet still leaving windblown trash everywhere and the grass looking like Helen Keller mowed it. There is something really yucky at this place with most of the employees. Stay there and you'll see. There are MUCH nicer people operating parks in the region. We have never stayed anywhere and been treated with such flagrant rudeness, discourtesy and outright scary behavior by the resident employees. There are about 20 of them, fyi. The owners may want business, but these angry old folks running the place are like hanging a NO VACANCY sign out front. Again, it's decent for a quick stop but until the Courtesy/Manners improves and the contemptuous creepiness is removed, this place is 1 Star in our considered judgment.