Looking for an adventure where you can explore Downey and then fall asleep in your tent? Find the best information on tent campgrounds near Downey, including sites, reviews, and tips. Whether you're looking for a quiet, dispersed site or an established camgpround with amenities, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to pitch your tent.
Whether you're traveling light or planning a weekend getaway with friends, you can choose to sleep in one of our fully furnished Stone Shelters, Yurts, Cabin, or under the stars in a wooded camping spot. Traveling with a group of family or friends? Consider making our land and waters your group basecamp!
All accommodations include 24-hour access to our 45 acre retreat center property which includes 6 hot spring pools, riverfront beach, hiking trails, canoes and paddle boards, River House patio and bathhouse, snack bar, and more.
Cold Springs Campground is located south of Soda Springs on Eightmile Creek. It offers 6 single units with good fishing in the area.
Dry Canyon Campground is located southeast of Malad City, ID, near Weston, ID. It's open from June through September with 3 single units. It offers vault restrooms. Enjoy the fishing, hunting and hiking in the area.
The campsites are located in a wooded area so lots of shade. Site 1,2 and 4 are creek side along maple creek and site 3 has a small stream and a pond. All sites have a fire pit available. All sites are carry in carry out. Easily accessible with a four wheel drive. You will need to cross maple creek to reach site 1. Site 1 also has outdoor carpet and patio furniture the site. The road down to the river bottoms is a bit steep so 4 wheel drive is recommended. This area is ideal for tent camping. Some sites have tables.
This area was used by the local Indian tribes during the summer. We have found many flint arrowheads and a bread stone on the property. There is a cave on little mountain to the west that they wintered in and it is a short hike to go see it.
There is a 6 mile round trip hike to the head of maple creek. Trail head at the top of maple creek road. If you have atv’s there are trails for that also.
$30 / night
North Fork Campground is located in scenic St. Charles Canyon in southern Idaho, near Bear Lake. Visitors enjoy hiking, biking, horseback riding and motorcycling on local trails, and fishing in St. Charles Creek.
North Fork Trail, which has a trailhead within the campground, is open to motorcycles, horses, hikers and mountain bikers and connects with the Highline Trail, a 55-mile path along the backbone of the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game manages the river fisheries, providing excellent fishing most of the year, including in St. Charles Creek. In-season big game hunting is also a popular activity.
A dense, mixed growth conifer forest covers the campground. St. Charles Creek flows gently through the site.
Minnetonka Cave is a short distance from the campground. Scenic Canyons offers guided, 90-minute tours through the nine-room cave with formations called the Bride and Groom, Three Sisters and Devil's Kingdom. The cave temperature is 40 degrees and the path through it includes 444 steps. Tickets must be purchased at the cave entrance. Bear Lake's North Beach is 12 miles from the campground, offering swimming and fishing opportunities on one of the Inter-mountain West's largest natural lakes. Bear Lake State Park Marina is 20 miles from the campground, with a seven-lane boat ramp, boat rentals, slips, a snack bar and general store.
$64 - $75 / night
This BLM managed site located along the Blackfoot River that has opportunities for fishing, camping, and non-motorized boating. Campground rules and regulations are posted at the site. There are no dumpsters on site, visitors must pack in and out their trash. Campsites: 12 developed sites--- 10 which are accessible by vehicle and 2 which are walk-in only. At this time, there is not a reservation system in place for the campsites. Campsites are on a first come first serve basis. This site is equipped with a vault toilet, picnic tables, fire rings an undeveloped put-in/take-out for floaters. There are no fees associated with this site.
Legend
Stayed here a few days on our way to Oregon. Quiet campground off the interstate. Not much nearby though. Showers/ restrooms clean and great hot water. Good place to ride bikes. A lot of history in the area. We also visited Lava Hot Springs which was about 1 hour away. Great spot
Scout
About 10 dispersed spots right next to the water/right off the road but holy shit it’s VERY ACTIVE TRAIN TRACKS about 50 yards from these spots. A train every 1-2 hours that blows its horn the whole night so not very peaceful
Ranger
Stayed in #14 which is small, but suited us well (van). Other sites tend to be larger. #13 is best one, with shade on the west side, a good level driveway and backs up to the creek.
Lots of ants and flying bugs, making it hard to stay outside for very long. #9 is also nice with a large spread and decent shade. There is one vault toilet across from #13, a little stinky but relatively clean and had hand sanitizer. Another one is adjacent to the entrance and it has 2 toilets each for women and men; hard to find, back into the shrubs between two concrete markers at road.
Lots of shrubs means sites are pretty private. No real hiking trails identified in the area means there is not much to do. Didn't seem overly busy.
Food aside: Had freeze dried mushroom wild rice risotto with Popeye's chicken nuggs and spiced up with lemon pepper and Italian seasonings, also used parmesan. Putting nuggs into bag at end of cooking time and stirring worked fine to incorporate them. Very tasty and 2.5 servings means very filling. Broke up astronaut (freeze dried) ice cream sammich and put into freezer overnight before putting into milk for pseudo milkshake with cappuccino mix. Not bad, worth trying again. Also had sweet potato curry with applewood chicken cubes (fully cooked packet), seasoned with garlic. A bit spicy but good. Freeze dried breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy good flavor but need to break up the biscuits before cooking or they are big and end up being soft on the outside but dry and crunchy on the inside.
Traveler
The place is big and the locals certainly come here. Each site has a picnic table, a fire ring and some grass. They’re fairly level. The bathroom and the showers are huge and very clean. Small trees at each site now so until they get big, there won’t be much shade in the summer. Very close to the town for the soaks. It’s very close to the highway which is a plus, but there can also be some traffic noise. Beautiful views.
Guide
Had the whole campground to ourselves. It is free to stay here after September 15th. We camped the 1st of October. Just a quick pit stop. Was a little hesitant at first because it seemed so far from the highway but it was so worth it! There are bathrooms as well but bring your own TP as this time of year I dont believe anyone comes to check on them. Also, no more running water either. However, the creek is lovely and we were able to have a fire and every site had a picnic table. Very pleasant experience.
Guide
I reckon it’s a decent place to spend the night. The road up although somewhat steep at times can easily be accessed without 4WD. A few nice sites right as you enter with fire pits & picnic tables. Unfortunately most of the sites are right next to the road, which the locals seem to rule with their 4 wheelers and side by sides, making lots of noise and dust.
Scout
Race through challenging tracks that test your driving skills and reflexes. The main objective in Jenny Mod Minecraft is to avoid obstacles and finish each course as quickly as possible
Scout
Great location just a few minutes off the highway with multiple sites. Offers great views of the river and several prebuilt fire rings around the area as well. 4 x 4 recommended to get down to some of the lower spots, but there’s sites up top as well that would be suitable for 2-Wheel drive vehicles. Bring bug spray if you visit in the hotter months
TravelerI don't know how people are finding the beautiful places they show here. I used the GPS coordinates from here and it led me to a maze of twisted little passages. Very deeply rutted roads challenging me and my 4wd led to a complex of turns and turnarounds. The only road that appeared to lead down to the river was dirt at about 45 degrees. There are many ways to go and I don't know how to could know which to take. Must be dumb luck to find a pretty place by the river.
So, I left and went to the location that the BLM website gives for this named place. It's not the same place. The official location of this place is farther west. That is poorly identified, too. There's a signed turnoff but down the road there's a "Y". I went right. That led to confusion and nasty flies going into my nose and eyes. I left.
Looking at the map later it appears that I should have gone LEFT at the "Y" instead of right. I have no idea what that's like.
Basically, this place has many roads that intersect and go to unknown places. I don't know why there are so many roads, circles, "Y"s, along the river, perpendicular to the river.
The BLM website isn't helpful. I called them and expected a call back but didn't get it.
I wouldn't go here without one of the people here who submitted great reviews with beautiful photos. It's not worth the confusing directions (both my Garmin RV GPS and Google Maps were wrong in different places) and ambiguity of destinations.
Guide
Great camp ground with spring nearby
Legend
The KOA is just off US-30, so easy to find. Our GPS and Waze did not have the exact address, but you can easily see the KOA sign coming in from the east. We were traveling with another couple and there were basically two marked check-in spaces. You have to pay attention to where you position your rig so you don't block office car parking. We had reserved a premium K-9 site and were assigned site 102 at check-in. Site 102 was 1 of 3 premium sites next to the office. The problem with site 102 was 1) there was a truck parked there with no owner in sight, 2) trees that would have scraped the top of our 5th wheel, and 3) a very difficult and tight back-in swing on this 90-degree site with our 40' rig. You need to be an expert backer, or very lucky, to clear the trees at the entrance of this site if you're in a larger rig. Sites 100 and 101 do not have these same obstacles and with the river view, are arguably the best sites in the park. We went back into the office to request a different site and were assigned a non K-9 premium back-in site, 200, in their new area. We would have enjoyed the original site as it does have a nice river view. Sites were under construction in the 200 area and each site is highlighted by 7-inch high and 6-inch wide cement curbs. Whoever designed much of this CG did not understand RVs. It was challenging to back into your site as there are also cement barriers to protect the sewer hookups off the curbs in front of sites on the adjacent pull-through sites. We almost tore off a snap pad getting too close to a curb as the curbs are not sloped to prevent this and based on the markings, a lot of tires have fallen victim to these curbs. Also, we had to be very careful going up and down our steps as you have the curb there as well. While we were getting into our site, a 45’ class A was trying to get into pull-through site 221 across from us. Just trying to make the turn onto this row, he ran his rear tires up on the curb around the shower/laundry facility. He still had his toad attached and had to disconnect it to avoid damaging his vehicle. Hopefully, the management of this park will mark that site for shorter rigs as he also had problems clearing the curbs when departing his site. Their free Wifi was decent. We got 3 bars on Verizon and no issues getting a shot to the north sky for Starlink as there are no mature trees in this new area. There are plenty of other CG options in the area, so we will not stay here again. The main positive of this CG is the staff. They were friendly and accommodating when we requested to change sites. They also credited us the diffrence in cost since we didn't get the K-9 site, without us asking for the credit.
Scout
Tons of land, tons of campsites.. but most are "occupied" by empty trailers with no other vehicles or people around. There's empty cars parked on top of fire pits, no tents or any sort of life nearby. Felt strange.
This road is rough and very bumpy. Didn't feel comfortable "taking over" a campsite with things already parked there. Wouldn't recommend coming here.
GuideSuch easy access off 86, so it’s the perfect pull out for a road trip. We were traveling from Colorado to Oregon and found this spot late in the evening of our 2nd day and couldn’t have been happier. We rolled in amongst the thunderstorms, which blew over just in time for a beautiful sunset. There was a little noise from the road, but once we crawled in the tent it was hard to distinguish the traffic noise from that of the river.
Very clean, lots of spots, 10 out of 10 would stay here again.
Traveler
The campground itself is nice. Nice spots, beautiful river and waterfalls, and close to Lava Hot springs. The trains; however, were a drag at night. Not many ran during the day but at night we counted 8 that went by. The tracks are only about 100’ from most of the spots. The real kicker is, because there’s a crossing to get into the campground, the trains blast their horn literally right as they pass you. Like excessively so, unnecessarily so. It was not a great nights sleep.
Traveler
Always love driving by the crowded RV campgrounds 5 minutes to a peaceful, very reasonably priced oasis out in the country. This was a random find for us we travel somewhat unplanned in general directions. Nothing amazing here except for serene peace and quiet.
GuideEnded up driving this road up to Idaho to find a bigger spot and some solitude. Took the dirt road for about 30 minutes and got the most perfect spot. Nobody was near us and the view was amazing. We went at the beginning of June, it was a bit chilly some mornings and at night, so come prepared.
Traveler
Nice stop, road is a little rough, but other than that it was great
Scout
Easy access from Lava with about 10 designated spots, most with room for two vehicles and one(?) pull through spot that fit my truck/30foot TT. Most had either a metal fire ring or picnic table or both. Pretty enough area, but right off the road and even closer to a train that passed through multiple times at night.
Pulled in at 10:30 pm Saturday night July Fourth weekend and was able to snag the last spot so very clutch!
NOTE - Google satellite photos are NOT accurate, the area is fenced off and sites are limited, no longer the free for all it appears to have been
Guide
This review is from July 2024, and it appears to have been a dry year.
I found the campground over run with Red Currant Bushes which were full of mature fruit. There was also a lot of Crested Wheatgrass and Sagebrush. The 5 campsites are still in good repair, but due to the Red Currant Bushes, access to the springs area was difficult if not impossible. The Springs themselves, due to the low water table were all but dried up, with only a small puddle of water marking each one. The water pump is still missing it's handle, and is now dry, so no water could be pumped. There was a moose present when I was there, but he was down in the outflow area, and did not seem interested in anything but lying down there. The Vault toilet was clean, odor free, and well maintained.
I cannot recommend this campground for mid summer or fall.
RangerBathrooms and showers are very clean, some sites are widely space, but some are crammed together, otherwise, a typical KOA. EXCEPT it is expensive and they add on extra fees for people, pets, and vehicles; never stayed at a KOA that does this. Oh, the road noise is pretty bad also.
ScoutNarrow road and short driveways, not suited for large rigs. Some sites are overgrown. The best sites are in the 6-16 loop. No trash receptacle but the Oregon/California Trail Center in town has one and an RV dump too. Campground is only about 3 miles from Montpelier ID. I had no cell signal on Verizon.
Guide
This campground is nice and there are clear markings and signs. The road getting in isn’t bad and the only downside was the noise of the cows. They were getting frisky in the night and making a lot of noise. I would still recommend this place!
Legend
We were in the Lava Hot Springs, ID area and when traveling US-30, we saw a sign for Caribou Highlands Golf & RV. We had to check out a golf course with an RV park. When you turn off US-30 at the sign, it will be a hard-packed dirt road and you go straight until you see golf course signage and follow them to the course. You will first come to the campground (CG) area where the 10 pull-through sites with FHUs (30/20 AMP). Check-in is at the clubhouse which is about 100 yards from CG. The pull-throughs are long enough for big rigs. A few of the sites have large trees so you will want to watch your sides and roof. There's a bathhouse building. There are no picnic tables at the sites. The cost per night when we were there was $42. During the week its pretty wide open but they do fill up on the weekends. Reservations are made on Campspot. The golf course is a 9-hole links style. They also have a driving range.
GuideThis review was from a visit in May of 2014, See my other review for July 2024
Twin Springs, a stop on Hudspeth's cutoff on the Oregon Trail was an important stop because it was the only stop that had water for 22 mlles.
The road leading to Twin Springs is an oiled road until you reach the trail head.
There are 5 sites located in Twin Springs, each with it's own table. benches, fire pit and awning. The tables and benches are sturdy painted wood, the fire pit is a cement square with an iron grate on top and open at one side. Located between sites 1 and 2 is the vault toilet. Bring your own toilet paper as there is none supplied. The sites are on the outside of the central loop about 340 feet long with an old water pump in the center of the loop. the handle of the pump is gone, but you can pull the central rod up and down and it will pump. To the north and east, of the south end of the loop the ground slopes down to the 2 springs that the campground is named for. South west of the campground is Rock Creek, a small stream. There are lots of birds, and small animals around and a lot of wild flowers. The camp is isolated and generators should be no problem. There is no internet of any kind, just a nearby cell tower for cell phones. The camp is best in Spring and early summer, and brown and dry, and less pleasant in late summer and fall.
NOTE: these pictures are from 2012
TravelerRoads are rough but the area is pretty. Next to the river and multiple spots available.
TravelerI love summit campground. If you go up the hill past the turnoff for the campground there are five different dispersed camping spots that are Free! There is a lovely little babbling brook that runs through the whole canyon. The mosquitos can be intense. There is a lot of great trails for hiking. There is cute waterfall. I come here often just to say camp and hammock. It is 20 mins from my home. They stock the river the weekend before memorial day with trout. It's where my kids all learned to fish. There is also a paid campground with bathrooms and water and picnic tables.
Ranger
On river with a short 2min walk to the entrance for tubing
Tent camping near Downey, Idaho offers a variety of scenic spots for outdoor enthusiasts looking to immerse themselves in nature. With options ranging from well-equipped campgrounds to more secluded sites, there's something for everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Downey, ID is Portneuf Lower Sportsmen's Access with a 4-star rating from 1 review.
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TheDyrt.com has all 18 tent camping locations near Downey, ID, with real photos and reviews from campers.
