Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Craters of the Moon National Monument

Great base camp location for anyone interested in exploring Craters of the Moon National Monument. Rangers were very helpful. Toilets were clean. No showers. No cell coverage. Location can get windy.

Mt. View is in the small city of Arco ID, close to Craters of the Moon National monument. Reserving space was easy on line and making a change to our reservation was easy via email. The park has lots o trees and the sites are roomy. The owners are friendly and helpful. 24 hour laundry is available. The restaurant serves delicious BBQ, southern style in a small, homey setting.

We stayed here on our way to Yellowstone. Has most of the usual KOA amenities: clean bathrooms, pool, cabins, full hookup RV spots, and a few tent spots. Even has a couple of teepees. Very friendly staff and a well stocked store/deli. Near Craters of the Moon National Monument. The town of Arco was charming and has an interesting history as the first nuclear-powered city in the US. If our travels take us this way in the future we'll camp here again!

Scenic and cool campsite smack in the middle of the lava beds of Craters of the Moon National Monument. Interesting information center within a quick walking distance with lots of national park rangers and activities.

Campsites are pretty small, but many are surrounded by LAVA. That said, very little shade, so if it’s the summer, it will be very hot.

Water, toilets, all available. RVs allowed but no hook-ups. No fire pits, but they do have charcoal grills available.

Very cool lava flow hikes and formations all around.

What could be more cool than sleeping in the bottom of a volcano.  That is what you can do on the Crater of the Moon National Monument's Wilderness Trail.  Sleep in the bottom of Echo Crater.  To backpack and camp in the wilderness area requires a free backcountry permit.  It is a little more than 3 miles of  backpacking to the crater,  the last bit is off trail so you will need the map provided for the area.  Access to the crater is from the east side of the crater, access the crater from any of the other sides is faster but it will be your last as it is a several hundred foot vertical drop to the bottom.  No water sources so you will need to pack at least a gallon of water per person per day.  Make sure you use the vault toilet at the trailhead before heading out, if you need to due #2 you will need to back all of it out, and that's more than just the paper.  No digging a hole and burying it here.  Plenty of flat ground to pitch your tent in the bottom of the crater.

Beautiful campground located at the mouth of Sawtooth Natl Forest. Right next to Wood River and surrounded by huge cottonwoods. Vault toilets and well water from spigot available. Pets allowed on leash. Good basecamp for exploring the Sawtooth area and Ketchum! I only knocked it down to 4 stars for highway noise which was rarely bothersome.

This campground was an great place to stay while in Lava Hotsprings. It's a two minute drive to the Hotsprings, which are amazing. The campground is clean and very well maintained. Cleanest shower houses and bathrooms we have seen at a campground in a long time! The camp hosts are friendly and the park is very pet friendly! I would highly recommend this spot if you are stopping in Lava Hotsprings for any amount of time!

This was a great spot to park and camp on our way through. River for a dog swim and multiple spots. Only complaint was it was hard to spot the entrance at night.

It's a free campground ran by a disabled vet. He can't and won't charge anyone, though lately has been allowing donations to pay it forward and help with things like recovering the power installation etc. Come make a friend, share a beer, hang as long as you want as long as you're not a jerk. Dogs are welcome and the place is named after one.

What a great campground, we had site #27. The RV pad was pretty level and overall a super clean site with a creek. Great deal for $30 in the off season. Also very dog friendly, and a cool playground for kids. Some things that would have made it 5 star for us was better signs/lights as it was very confusing for arriving after dark, and offering ice would have been nice, but super close to store and also would’ve liked WiFi. Not a huge deal though, with AT&T we got 3 bars. Definitely will be back next year!!

I love this place I was a little stressed out because I was driving quite a distance and wasn't sure if I was gonna make the cut off time but I did and they were supernice superfriendly dog friendly AC units the only thing is it took a while for the room to cool down it would have been cool if they were able to set that air conditioner about an hour before arrival but no biggie it's just right in the heart of ATV central the reservoir only downside is there's no real espresso coffee shop if you're from Washington you know you know But highly recommend I would stay here again for sure.

This is what you would expect in the wilderness of Idaho! A unique location, and an experience worth having!

Please obey posted fire safety warnings as Idaho is plagued by enough man made wildfires each year!

Have fun and leave no trace!

Craters of the moon is a truly unique experience, that can only be found in Idaho. Highly recommended!

Middle of August, a little warm, so I requested 30 Amp hookup for 2 rv's. Get there, to our spots that we reserved on the dyrt, no hook ups at all.  There is only 1 hook up near the barn.  Sherry offered for us to move over there, I decided not to due to my other party being without electricity.  I expressed my concern to Sherry about her advertising that she had hook ups for 2 rigs, when in fact she does not.  Her response was, I can refund your money and you can leave.  Wow! Not that easy to just leave and get another campsite in August when everyone in the world is camping.  We are also Harvest Host members, which she showed nothing available when we looked.  However, on the dyrt she charged $30 for us to park on her grass with no amenities.  I would have loved to purchase some of her vegetables, but this left a bad taste.  Also they walk by with their dogs and don't even say hello.  Have to give it 3 stars only because it's a nice peaceful farm.

Incredible views after driving through most of Idaho this spot is a relief! Water /fishing access ,private spots , even one really nice paved spot close to entrance , don’t miss the turn it’s near a cattle gate on the gravel road

This campground is located just north of Catchem Idaho just off the highway. 27 sites. Very clean and well-maintained pick toilets. Larger rigs can also stay at this campsite. Highly recommend.

I loved this campground we showed up in the early afternoon on a Thursday and they had plenty of spots still available. You are completely immersed into the lava landscape at this campground I really enjoyed it. The sites were nice size bathrooms were very clean lots of families and friendly people. A must if you are in Idaho. Note: if you plan to walk through any of the caves you need to visit the visitor center to get a permit.

This is an amazing secluded spot deep into the Sawtooth Mountains of Central Idaho.  We've been coming here for years and my fathers been coming here since the 60's.  Not much has changed except for better upkeep of the roads and the occasional vault toilet that are scattered across the area.  The campground is free to stay at and has a dispersed feeling to it.  There are no developed rings or tables but you can tell where people usually set up camp.  For the most part this is an RV campsite mostly because of how the spots are arranged.  You could put a tent in here if you wanted but there are way better spots just up the road out of the RV'ers reaches.  These forests are pretty wild still so definitely keep an eye out for black bears.  We haven't seen any Grizzly in this area but they are definitely in the Salmon/Challis area which isn't too far away.  Also if you're from Idaho this is a good spot to ride around on your motorcycle or ATV and get some pristine alpine fishing in!

I was happy to find this low use campground in the middle of the summer, when almost everything seems like it’s packed to the gills. There are ample trails that are available kicking off straight from the campground into the wilderness, for hiking, walking, snowmobiling, mountain biking, etc. Sites are big and able to accommodate even larger RVs (although the guy across from me struggled to fit his 30’ rig in his spot, he did it!). Some of the best that Idaho has to offer and definitely a hidden gem.

I have never been to a campground like this. Considering all they have to work with are rocks, it is a good campground right next to the visitor center. The only reason I'm giving it 3 stars is because it's just not my style. Don't be expecting Idaho streams and trees. You are truly in a remote area here at Craters of the moon. I highly suggest going down in the caves where you can crawl in the lava tubes. If you are planning on camping here in the summer, be prepared for extreme dry heat.

This place was great! $8 because water is off for the season, I guess...normally $20. All facilities are closed so it’s just camping and exploring the park which is all within walking distance of the campground. Very friendly ranger working the front! Level sites on pavement. No fires allowed unless propane or grills. Very windy! Get a spot that has rocks on your west side to hide lol! This place was a great stop for a evening/night! Not a lot to see but what’s there is really cool! A must see if you’re passing thru Idaho down to Utah.