Best Campgrounds near Garden City, ID

If you don’t have a four wheel drive vehicle don’t go, all wheel drive won’t do it in winter.

We stayed one night. Check in was easy. All spots are easy parking. Park for kids, dog area, propane refills. Clubhouse with really nice showers.

In the winter it is not plowed, so you can’t access it. Found out the hard way, lol.

Just off the asphalt on a gravel road. Very dusty and noisy on the weekends. Can be busy because a lot people park in there to float the river.

Loved this spot! Parked our tow behind camper right on the beach. It is very muddy so don’t get too close to the shore, we had to help two vehicles get out of the mud. Also very buggy which is why is lost a star

Beautiful scenery, easy drive in for most vehicles and surprisingly good phone service. Had the place all to myself and got some really nice long exposure shots of the night sky.

Site 10 is right on the river.

Sites are well spaces apart. A quit spot.

Was worried about the weather when I pulled up at dusk during a storm but it passed south of me and I got to watch the lightening. It is remote without any services for miles in either direction off 20, so do check the weather and come prepared.

We had it to ourselves in mid September. Toilets had lots of TP and were clean. Saw some big scat (moose?).

Traveling through Idaho and made this reservation online just an hour before arrival. Very simple to reserve. 

We have a 38' 5th wheel pulled with a dually pickup. It was a tight fit, but after we were parked, it was awesome. We were in space #5. After unhooking, we did park the pickup across the lane in space they have for extra vehicles. Hook ups were simple. Although the sewer pipe at our site was a little high, so we had to really use risers under our drain pipe to get it to that level. Other sites seemed ground level. 

When we left the next morning, we did have to pull out the "entrance" lane, as the angle of the space and smaller area, we couldn't turn sharp enough for the exit lane. 

We could watch the sunset over the Snake River from out campsite. No bugs and lots of shade. Quiet campground.......except the duck hunters on other properties.  
We didn't use the restrooms, etc. there. 

They have very nice metal fire pits and a decent picnic table at each site. If you needed to stay in a cabin, they looked very nice. The larger one with the bathroom, was a beautiful site.  

The price was great, especially for full hookups. I wish we could have stayed more than one night.

We would definitely stay there again.

Well shaded sites with a clean bathroom, shower combo. There’s only the one bathroom but we didn’t have to wait for anyone to use it. It was quiet except for an occasional public service siren which wasn’t too loud. We felt safe staying there even though it was in a residential area The only thing that was missing was a picnic table

My wife and I were forced to make last minute changes to our camping trip this year(thanks to the Wapiti 2024 fire in Stanley) and Dog Creek was the only campground available on the dates we had set aside. We had been up to Pine once before but had never explored past the town. 

The campground itself is quiet and away from the main road but it is directly parallel to the South Fork of the Boise River. There are a TON of ponderosa pines and other various pine trees so the campground looks small because of the dense tree cover. From the main road, the main drive is a fairly narrow paved dirt/gravel road and not bumpy at all so most vehicles shouldn’t have an issue with it. 

The camp sites themselves are a little close to each other but you’re not shoulder to shoulder or directly on top of each other. The camp host greeted us upon our arrival, filled us in on the fire restrictions and said to let him know if we needed anything. 

We had reserved sites 10 and 11 but in reality, they might as well call it a group site because there is no separation between the two, you even share a"driveway”. There were fire rings, tent pads(at some sites) and picnic tables, along with shepherds hooks for hanging trash off of the ground. There were also metal tables at every site that we think are intended for camp stoves.(The picnic tables are wood)The fire rings were well cared for(none damaged that we saw and they all had adjustable grills)….but our fire ring was very close to the bushes which was a little sketchy. 

This campground is nice and quiet and full of trees. But unfortunately, for us, that’s where the appeal ends. In order to get to the actual Dog Creek from the campground, you have to hope that sites 2 and 5 are not occupied and even then, the creek isn’t super exciting. It’s pretty but it’s a climb down into a ravine of sorts and it’s not deep enough to lay in and there aren’t any places to setup chairs to just enjoy it. The water flowing through the creek is clean and it is pretty to look at, but that’s about all it’s good for. 

As for other things to do at the campground, there isn’t much. There are no hiking trails as far as we could tell, but if you go across the street to the river, you can actually enjoy your stay, assuming the banks of the river aren’t packed with dispersed campers and their ATV’s. 

The campground does have water spigots and the water tasted fine. The restrooms(vault toilets) were impeccable in terms of cleanliness. Some of the nicest Forest Service campground restrooms we’ve used and the camp host does an awesome job of keeping them clean and bug free. 

Speaking of bugs, we didn’t see many mosquitoes but we did see a good amount of bees, wasps and yellow jackets and there were traps setup throughout the campground so bring an epi pen if you’re allergic to any of them. 

We lost cell service just after the reservoir (T-Mobile) but my satellite communicator worked fairly well at the campground. 

There are dumpsters to take your trash just inside the entrance to the campground, which is a little annoying as you have to walk quite a ways to dump it, but there were also no critters hanging around the sites. 

Dog Creek campground is the type of campground where you setup your camper or RV and leave for the day to do other things. Whether it’s boating at Anderson Ranch, taking the ATV’s up into the mountains or try to find hiking trails. The campground itself is very pretty BUT it doesn’t offer much in terms of things to do while there. However, if you are looking for some peace and quiet, with very little noise from the outside world, it’s great.

I like the idea of being able to camp cheap and all, but if there happens to be a storm before the day you pull in, you might encounter some mud in the grassy area. Not complaining, but was trying to stay out of the mud as I have a dog who doesn’t care where he runs and that can be a problem with the wife inside trailer.

Nice lil spot to relax . Really rough road is the only bad part

Found this place after a trip to another spot was not to be. Awesome staff great spot to just relax. Today the views were almost as impressive as the staff. We are going back! dusty 3 mile road and all.