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Best Tent Camping near Caribou-Targhee National Forest

225 Reviews
CAMPER SUMMARY PRESENTED BYFord

Tent campsites near Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho offer a mix of established campgrounds and primitive options along rivers and scenic areas. South Tourist Park Campground along the Snake River provides basic tent sites with picnic tables and fire pits, while Eagle Park Campground offers a more secluded experience near the Teton River with walk-in tent locations. Morgans Bridge Campground provides dedicated walk-in tent sites in a desert setting along the water.

Most tent camping areas feature minimal amenities, with vault toilets being the most common facility. Sites at South Tourist Park include picnic tables and fire rings, but campers should expect bare-bones facilities at most locations. Potable water is available at South Tourist Park and Eagle Park, but not at more primitive locations like Morgans Bridge. Tent campers should be prepared for varying ground conditions, with Morgans Bridge featuring "rough ground" at its walk-in sites according to visitor reports. Summer temperatures can fluctuate dramatically, so proper gear for both warm days and cool nights is essential.

The backcountry tent camping experience varies significantly between locations. Sites along the Snake River offer water views but come with noise considerations. One camper noted that South Tourist Park has "a VERY LOUD train that went by a few times during the night, blowing its whistle." Eagle Park provides a more natural setting but proximity to a wastewater treatment facility can affect the experience depending on wind direction. Morgans Bridge offers what visitors describe as a "quiet" desert camping experience with "very little shade" but excellent river access. Most tent campgrounds in the region operate seasonally, with peak availability from May through October, and first-come, first-served policies are common at smaller sites.

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Best Tent Sites Near Caribou-Targhee National Forest (7)

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Caribou-Targhee National Forest

1 Photos of 7 Caribou-Targhee National Forest Campgrounds

Tent Camping Reviews near Caribou-Targhee National Forest

225 Reviews of 7 Caribou-Targhee National Forest Campgrounds

  • Mary S.
    Aug. 4, 2018

    Falls Campground

    Quiet campground gets busy on weekends

    This is a small (less than 25 sites) campground in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near the Snake River. The river is an attraction for fishermen.

    Given the name, there must be a waterfall, right? Yes, if you come toward the campground from Rt 26, the waterfall is on your left just after the pavement ends. The waterfall is worth a stop on your way to or from the campground; the campground is about a mile past the falls.

    This is a typical Forest Service campground with plenty of space between large sites. There are vault toilets, water spigots and a trash dumpster. You can use the dump station at the Palisades Reservoir during and at the end of your stay without paying $5 if you show a receipt validated by the campground host.

    Double sites have 2 picnic tables and you must pay a double fee ($24) even if it's the last site in the campground. There is no discount for NPS Senior Pass holders for a double site. (This is standard at Forest Service campgrounds. Remember, hosts don't make the rules.)

    Bringing an ATV? You can't ride one in the campground, but there is an ATV parking area.

  • A
    Sep. 25, 2020

    Scout Mountain Campground

    Beautiful basic camping in Furs and Pines

    Beautiful campground set high up in the Caribou National Forest. The campground is around 13 miles up a mountain from Pocatello- it took us roughly 30 minutes driving up curvy mountain roads to get up to the top. Be advised, our gps tried to route us off a dirt road half way up, but you just stay on the paved road all the way up. We got site 20, I’m not sure which loop, as the loops were kind of hard to determine. It was next to bathrooms and across from water and a group campsite which looked like it’d be awesome if you were in a group (site 19.) Beautiful in the pines and furs. You can’t see from the road but many of the tent pads are behind the tables and fire rings. The tent pads aren’t huge- Our tent pad wasn’t big enough for our 6 person REI tent so we pitched right behind our car on the parking pad, which was considerably larger. We were only staying for one night on a Thursday and it was very quiet with only a handful of other campers, but I saw reserve tags on most camp sites in our loop for the weekend. No showers, vault toilets. Drinking water. We tent camp so I didn’t see if there were any electric sites, ours was not. We saw cows, moose, birds and deer on the mountain. Wish we could have stayed an extra night to hike around the area.

  • Abner H.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jul. 16, 2025

    North Bingham County Park

    Nice Quiet Park - $45/night for Non Resident

    The park is nice and clean, appears to be recently paved or resurfaced.  The spots are relatively level. Restrooms are clean and nice shower is large.  The 12 pull through sites have 20/30/50 Amp outlets and potable water and each has its own picnic table.  The dump station is just past the sites there is a seprate potable water fill 50' from the dump station which has its own hoses and water for flushing tanks.  

    There are two areas of grass designated as tent sites with in ground fire rings and there is one shared elevated charcoal grill.

    As of July 2025 the nightly rate is $25/night for Bingham County Residents and $45/night for Non-Residents.  There are envelopes for payment (cash or check only) at the front gate and inside the envelope is an information sheet with the bathroom codes.

    - AT&T Service is 3 bars and bounces between 5G+ and LTE my speedtest showed 10.38 Mbps Download

    - Starlink is partially obstructed in all of the pull throughs with ~15 outages greater than 2s in 15 minutes but has download speeds of 157.93 Mbps when not obstructed.

    - T-Mobile is 3 bars of 5G and my speediest showed 310.58 Mbps download speed.

  • B
    Sep. 24, 2016

    Ririe Reservoir Dump Station

    Great Place to Camp...minus the sprinklers

    Unfortunately it was raining the whole night we showed up. However there was a covered pavilion, with a fridge, and 2 walls. We were able to stay dry under the pavilion and cook our food on the stove we bought. We were tent camping which offers plenty of picnic tables and nice green grass. There are plenty of areas from for RV camping along with hookups. There's also a boat ramp.

    Now the bad, as we were getting ready to go to bed, the sprinklers came on. Thankfully we had springbar tents that were able to take the rain as well as the sprinklers. We tried waking the camp host to turn them off. Didn't work. We just waited it out and we were fine.

    The campsite firepits, and pavillions with fridges, basketball courts, a boat doc, and bathrooms (clean, with no nasty smell, and hand blower dryers).

  • Beth B.
    Jul. 22, 2018

    Scout Mountain Campground

    Perfect in every way!

    We stayed on site #3, nice and shady, perfect walking distance to clean vault toilets, water spigot not far, and off the road so you feel tucked away. Nice sturdy picnic tables, latern stand, and great fire ring with attached grill, and an additional freestanding grill available. Loved that spot!

  • Lee D.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jul. 12, 2019

    North Bingham County Park

    Not for us

    This was our first attempt to find a place to land in the Idaho Falls Area. Located about 10 miles south of Idaho Falls, it is a relatively new 12-unit RV Park (although they list prices for tent sites). When we arrived, there were two open spots but no apparent host or staff on-site. Sites are close to each other in typical RV Park fashion. There were some nice shade trees but they really did not provide much privacy/ separation between sites. The office was closed and you needed a code to access the restroom which we could see no way of obtaining. There were only large RVs camped there even though there are supposedly tent sites (without a code to the bathroom and nowhere that I could see to pitch a tent, I don’t see tenters staying there). There was some road noise and a chain link fence surrounded the campground. Nothing scenic about it. We moved on.

  • M
    Sep. 19, 2021

    Juniper Group Campsite — City of Rocks National Reserve

    Great campground that's an amazing deal!

    Found this spot recently that had full hookups on most sites. Located just above a lake. They have bathrooms with showers. Loop A is reservations only loops B and C are first come first serve. Loop A has a mixture of 30 and a few 50 amp spots with sewer and water. Water pressure is good around 60 PSI. Site 10 & 12 are no hookups. Looks B and C are all full hookups with 30 & 50 AMP the host tells me. Lots of green grass and shade in most sites. The best part is the $25 a night with full hookups. No WIFI but good service with Verizon even 5G at times. Highly recommend this park!

  • KThe Dyrt PRO User
    Sep. 17, 2024

    South Tourist Park Campground

    Open city bear bone camp site next to Snake River

    Nice little gem of a bare bones city camp site next to Snake River. No hook ups. There is a dump site, fresh water and toilets. There is a small boat launch. A few back in sites but mostly just pull next to the side sites with picknick table and fire pit. 16 campsites. Some tent campers. No reservations, just first come first serve. No wifi. AT&T was LTE with 2 and sometimes 3 bars. Train tracks nearby with loud train noise twice during the night. Because it is a city open park there are people occasionally driving through. No security but there is a camp host. As of Sept 2024 the price is$18 per night.

  • Steveandshauna H.
    Sep. 15, 2023

    Jefferson County Lake

    Most beautiful RV campground near Rexburg

    We just discovered this campground because we drove by it. I have no idea why it never comes up when you do a Google search for campgrounds near Rexburg. We are so glad we found it. It's by far the most beautiful RV campground in the whole area. Each spot has a concrete pad, a fire ring and a picnic table. It has water and electric but no sewer or dump station. However, Lakeside RV a block away has a dump station for $5 and there is a Sinclair nearby that also has a dump station for $5 and they refill propane tanks and I hear they have the best prices around. It's 10 minutes south of Rexburg. You can stay as long as you want but you can only book for 6 nights in a row in one spot. Then you can book another 6 nights at a different spot. We stayed for 11 nights. They have pit toilets that are surprisingly clean and don't smell, but no shower or laundry. We stayed in sites 8 and 12 and both were wonderful with shade trees and a beautiful view. I loved waking up in the morning to see a beautiful lake out my bedroom window. The lake is actually an aquafer (underground spring) so it's super clear and clean unlike most lakes. One side of the lake has a beach and my kids and I swam in the lake and they especially loved the big slide in the middle of the lake. We floated with tubes and noodles. They have kayaks and paddleboats to rent for $15 an hour. There is a walking path around the campground and a lovely little river that travels alongside the walking path. Each year in September they have Buddies Not Bullies event on the beach. We happened to be her for the event. They had lots of old cars and cool cars and you can vote on your favorites. My boys loved the burnout contest. They had music, a free bounce house for kids, food trucks, free HotWheels for kids, and the radio station was here.  My kids thought it was fun. The campground closes for the winter in October but they leave the walking trail open. $30 a night was cheaper than any other place around and this campground is far more beautiful than any other one in the area. Definitely will be back.

Guide to Caribou-Targhee National Forest

Tent camping sites near Caribou-Targhee National Forest accommodate both short-term visitors and extended stays, with facilities that vary widely by location. The region ranges from 4,000 to 10,000 feet in elevation, creating notable temperature variations between campgrounds at different altitudes. Certain sites require campers to pack their own toilet paper as vault toilets may not be consistently stocked.

What to do

Riverside fishing access: South Tourist Park provides excellent access to the Snake River. "A few nice spots right on the river. They have potable water and a dump station. You need to park and go to the box near the host station to fill out the card and pay," notes Jamie C. of South Tourist Park Campground.

Explore town by bicycle: Some campgrounds provide direct access to local trail systems. "There is a bike path right from the campground that follows the river and leads to downtown Riverwalk area," according to campers at South Tourist Park.

Local fly fishing: Eagle Park offers stream fishing opportunities right through the camping area. "You may have locals walking a small trail pass by on main road or see others fly fishing in small stream that runs through park," reports a camper at Eagle Park Campground.

What campers like

Budget-friendly options: Most sites are reasonably priced for the amenities provided. "Nice little gem of a bare bones city camp site next to Snake River. No hook ups. There is a dump site, fresh water and toilets. As of Sept 2024 the price is $18 per night," reports Kenyon at South Tourist Park.

Desert camping atmosphere: Morgans Bridge Campground offers a unique desert environment. "Great desert camping spot. Very little shade. 3 RV slips for smaller rigs ~30'. Plenty of picnic tables including an ADA table. Two walk in only camp spots, expect rough ground," notes one camper.

Local volunteer maintenance: Community groups maintain some campgrounds. Eagle Park "is ran by the local lions club and Boy Scouts of the area. $10 a night isn't bad. Overall a good campground, but overgrown and cramped roads and campsites," according to Jacob W.

What you should know

Waste treatment facility proximity: Some sites have unexpected neighbors. At Eagle Park, "be warned that the campsite is right next to a waste water treatment plant, if the wind is blowing from that direction you will smell it," cautions Miles G.

Ground conditions: Tent sites often have variable terrain. Walk-in areas at Morgans Bridge have what campers describe as "rough ground," requiring careful tent placement and appropriate sleeping pads.

Unexpected price increases: Campground fees can change without notice. "The price for one night was $40 though! Not sure when they made that change but I wouldn't say it's quite worth that given proximity to highways and trains," reports Carrick M. at South Tourist Park Campground.

Tips for camping with families

Morning maintenance awareness: Early risers may appreciate the schedule, but light sleepers should note that maintenance happens early. "Only issue was the mowing service was out and about at 6:30am. Luckily we're early risers, but we just thought it was a little strange," notes Jamie C.

Necessary supplies: Prepare for variable facilities. "Pit toilets none seem to lock and mine had no TP so bring your own," advises a camper at Eagle Park Campground.

Local foot traffic: Some sites experience visitors beyond registered campers. "Site is relatively unbusy with Campers but you may have locals walking a small trail pass by on main road," notes a visitor to Eagle Park.

Tips from RVers

Size restrictions: Many campgrounds have limitations on RV length. Eagle Park has "cramped roads and campsites. No big RV's allowed. You don't want to take an RV down that road. Not very good turnaround spots," warns Jacob W. at Eagle Park Campground.

Limited RV-friendly spots: Morgans Bridge offers "3 RV slips for smaller rigs ~30'," making it suitable only for compact recreational vehicles.

Dump station availability: While hookups are uncommon, some sites provide dump facilities. "I love that there is a RV dump in the campground," notes Ginger Y. about South Tourist Park.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Caribou-Targhee National Forest?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Caribou-Targhee National Forest is South Tourist Park Campground with a 3.9-star rating from 7 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Caribou-Targhee National Forest?

TheDyrt.com has all 7 tent camping locations near Caribou-Targhee National Forest, with real photos and reviews from campers.

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