The best camping near
Dubois, IDAHO

My stay here was just for one night in August but it is a great relaxing place. During the day you could here the highway a little but it wasn’t something that I could here often. I look forward to going back again soon and hopefully staying a little longer next time.

It was beautiful sites long and level! Easy in and out Staff extremely friendly

Coal Creek Disperse Camping Area is a large flat grassy parking area just barely off the main road. Site has a large rock fire ring with plenty of flat areas to set up a tent or park a camper. Site is right next to Coal Creek. Being so close to the road you will have no privacy, but the remoteness of the area should mean little to no traffic at night. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 7000 feet

Dispersed Camping Area 6100X is not much to talk about. The location is just barely off the road in a bumpy grassy area along Forest Service route 100. This camping area is wide open, not much of a site, but does have a small rock fire ring. I would suggest not using the fire ring as small sage brush is growing along the edge of the ring, would build a new ring if you wanted a fire. While the ground is a little bumpy you should have no problem find a level enough spot for a tent and a camper should be no problem at all. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 7024 feet.

Each year, thousands of fly fishermen ascend into Harriman State Park and nearby town of Island Park, ID to fish the famous Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. As we planned our Yellowstone vacation, we decided to spend a few days fly fishing and camped at Riverside (Id- Targhee). 

Campground Review: Just around 15 miles north of Ashton, ID, and a few miles to Harriman State Park on US Hwy 20, the entrance of Riverside campground is clearly marked. The area was formed by a large caldera and sits about 6300 feet above sea level. Riverside campground is about a mile down a dirt road and sits right on Henry’s Fork. Roughly 30 camping spots and 1 group site. The sites were well laid out and plenty of space and privacy from each site. Surrounded by thick lodge pole pines, we didn’t hear much road traffic. Our site was less than 25 yards from the river, and we had great access with a handful trails leading to several areas of the river. There are a few bear boxes to share with other sites around the campground and several super clean restrooms. Probably the cleanest I’ve used. We didn’t spend a lot of time at the site during the day due to our main objection was to slay trout, but at night after a great day of fishing, we were able to relax and have a good night camping under the stars. The campsite’s fire ring was awesome. Cement ring with a moveable metal grate with a heavy duty cast iron pole with arms to hang your dutch oven over the fire. We have a rooftop tent but the campgrounds have some nicely laid out tent boxes to park your tent. We did see some sites with concrete flooring around the picnic areas. Overall, very well laid out campground with some good sites to enjoy the great outdoors. We camped at A012. We really had to go out of our way at our site to see our neighbors so tons of privacy. We had a big open sky to stargaze at night. Best of all: No mosquitos. We camped in the middle of August. My boy and I camped at a different campground in Island Park in June, and there was so much standing water that it bred armies of mosquitos. Not this trip. We also had good cell phone reception at this campground. The only bad thing I could come up with is that there was only trash dumpster near the front entrance so ridding your garbage took a little work. There is a boat launch so if you have a drift boat, you can do it right there. Island Park is about 8-10 minute drive if you need some supplies or gas. 

Product Review: As a Dyrt Ranger, I get to test products! At this campground, I tested The Vista in hunter green trucker hat from Banner & Oak. As an outdoor enthusiast, I wear a lot of trucker hats and Banner & Oak really stood out from other hats I’ve worn. Stiff, thick material with a mesh backing and secure adjustment to keep my head airy. I really enjoyed wearing it and has quickly become my favorite hat. I really love the color and the high quality patch. If you’re not a fan of deeper hats, I recommend you do not get this hat. It fit my big noggin perfectly. Check out their products at the this link: https://bannerandoak.com/collections/hats

I was very please with the campground. It was very clean and the campground host was very friendly. I will definitely go again.

This campground is a small, quiet, no reservation campground with single and double sites. Overlooks the beautiful snake river with hiking path. Bear boxes, level tent sites, picnic tables and water. No electricity. Tall pines.

We hiked down to the hydroelectric dam where the buffalo river joins the snake river. Picturesque! The only drawback is that strangely, the sound of the hydroelectric plant becomes louder at night.

Would stay there again.

Our family stayed here in a tent trailer for 2 nights. Kids loved playing in the lake. I like the paved trail that goes around the lake for jogging and cycling.

This lake has a triathlon that happens every year in mid-July. I’ve done it 4 times. It’s just a great lake + campground.

Camping on the banks on the banks of the Warm River, which actually is quite cold, can’t get much better than this! There are several options here- tent camping in a tent only walk in area along the river banks and under some pretty good hammocking trees (best sites are #12, 13, 16, and 8 because they have some space from neighbors and are right on the river); RV sites with what looks like at least electric hook ups (best sites for river views and/or privacy are #2, 4, 6, 19); from what neighbors say is pretty good fishing; and an awesome alternative to camping at Mesa Falls if that campground is full. Walk down the road and cross the river to check out a protected area of the river where the fish are HUGE and you can stand with your toes in the river while you feed them bits of bread. The sites all have the usual picnic tables and firepits, with nice level tent pads, clean vault toilets, and firewood for sale from the campground host. The only two downsides are no showers and the campground is wedged between the road and the river, so there is quite a bit of road noise in the day which fortunately dies down once dark sets in. At that point the river covers the road noise (also helpful in the morning). The campground is close to a lot of hiking trails, but there are no trailheads in the campground (so I guess that makes three bummers). All in all, a cool place to camp.

My boy and I headed up to Island Park for Father's Day '19 for a few days of camping and fly fishing. As we first got into the campground, a moose was grubbing on some shrubs. Found our camping spot and no one was around except for a few campers. 

Our spot was very spacious and had some cover from the Aspen and Pine trees. Big driveway. There are bear boxes every few spots to share if needed. Our camp host told us that the area received about 11' of snow by Jan and when they arrived beg of May, there was still 4' of snow on the ground. The area had a lot of standing water still in June, which bred massive amounts of mosquitos. The first thing the host said to us was his apologies for the mosquitos. 

After lathering with repellant, we headed to the Buffalo river for some fly fishing. It was my 8 year old's first time fly fishing and this river is perfect for first-timers. Most areas are about 2-3' deep with some deeper holes. We arrived at the river just in time for a massive Caddis fly hatch and he landed himself a few 10" trout. We spent the next few days fishing up and down the river, where we caught about 17 trout between us. It made for a perfect camping trip minus the mosquitos.