Best Glamping near Gooding, ID

Great hot spring camp site. They have different pools of varying temperatures, alligators, trees and plenty of room for each site. I stop by every time I swing through Idaho.

We camped our RV here in mid September. Weather was pleasant, staffs friendly, good wifi connection. Clean grounds. No traffic noise. Close to freeway.

We stopped here during a road trip and it was a good choice. This is a pretty standard KOA experience.

Good:

• Easy on and off the highway. Including a convenient gas station when leaving in the morning.
• Easy access to restaurants in Twin Falls
• Clean campground
• Very nice and clean bathrooms
• Great staff who moved us to a better site even though we were just overnighting
• Near the falls if you want to visit

Okay:

• As expected, the sites are a bit tight. At least in the RV section.
• A bit of road noise from the highway and the road it’s on
• Some cow pastures in the area, so there was occasional aroma
• Pretty windy the night we visited

We stayed here to visit Shoshone Falls and it worked out great. Some cows to the North of the park and semi busy road to the East. Bathrooms in good shape.

recently updated- the pools and surrounding areas are well kept. pools feel so good with the different temp areas. staff was friendly but not helpful.

domes were clean and the bed and bedding was comfortable.

Good County park. Well kept with lawns, walking trails, BBQs, etc. Electric and water. Vault toilets. No dump station but options close by. Quiet. Partially shaded. Paved. Almost level. Would stay again.

Fort Running Bear RV Park, Idaho

If you like the middle of nowhere, you will like Fort Running Bear RV Park. It is approximately 32 miles to the middle of nowhere, the last three are on a dirt road. You are driving through scrub country with no trees and hills in the distance. Then you see a copse of trees in the distance. That is where you end up. This is an older campground, private and family run. There is a shower house attached to the swimming pool and a laundry room. The sites have room around them for tents, bikes, etc; a covered picnic table , most have shade and fire rings. There are full hookup sites and basic sites. When we visited the wind was wiping through the area. The owners are personable and friendly, the campground is well maintained. The shower house ...clean and a little old. This would be a nice place to spend a quiet weekend or time with the family. It would not make sense to use this campground for a base camp due to the distance from anywhere.

We only stayed for one night. We have a 36ft travel Trailer and we're able to maneuver it very well. The campground road is gravelly and circles most of the small campground so you can look for a good spot. There is one pit toilet, but we didn't use it. We didn't use our computers but was able to get Amazon prime and watch a movie without glitches. Cell service was good (we have Verizon). There is a gas station and small grocery store 20 miles from the site so you are not totally removed from civilization. When we were there (in late April) it was quiet and not much traffic, this is a great place to stay for a few nights or more. Since this is a free campsite, it is not maintained but worth the stay.

Let's just say we aren't going back. 6 viable spots to camp, one next to the bathrooms and garage cans, one next to the highway and 3 in the middle crammed together. One tree for shade. They haven't put money into the place since inception and while the swimming area is good for a day trip if you are already close by (lots of locals) I wouldn't call this a destination. The river is near by so lots of kayaking is available.

Stayed here on our way up to Boise. The campsite was convenient for us because it was close to the freeway. On the flip side that comes with vehicle traffic noise. There were places for both RV’s/campers and tents. The place was clean, well kept up and had tons of amenities including flushing toilets, showers, laundry, 2 playgrounds and a pool. Staff were very friendly. Not a scenic campground but was perfect for what we wanted and at a good price.

This campground sits right off of Hwy 20 along the Big Wood River. It is a dispersed campground with varying degrees of levelness and sizes. No real privacy here despite being surrounded by trees, mostly aspens which were starting to change color in September and give the place a little bit of a peaceful atmosphere. There were a few campers there with trailers when we were there that seemed to keep to themselves and only one of the trailers looked a little rundown and sketchy. 

There is river access which is nice and easy. There is road noise as it sits fairly close to the highway. 

There are pit toilets and a few of the “sites” have stone pits but fire restrictions are in effect so no fires at this time. There are no garbage cans or dumpsters so pack in and pack out. Also there were no water spigots that we found, so filter from the river or bring water. Overall this is a dusty fairly noisy stop good for a night. I wouldn’t make it a destination but if you’re tired of driving and need a place to crash it’s free and easily accessed. 

There is a 10 day limit on camping within a 30 day period. Weak Verizon, good ATT and no TMobile cell reception.

I was excited to pull in, but didn’t feel safe. This is a pretty good-sized area and lots of cars and rvs. I drove through and saw several open spaces, but I didn’t feel great about the neighbors. I have nothing to back this up, but my gut. I pulled into one of the few shady spots to camp overnight and leave in the morning. But, I decided to move on after about 20 minutes. You can hear a creek from the site and tons of bugs that come with water.

The Campground was very nice green grass with beautiful big trees by the Snake River. The nice thing about camping in October was the fact that we were the only tent campers. It appears to be much busier with warm weather. There are beautiful views of the waterfalls across the river from the Campground. The campsite is a bit spendy at $25 a night per tent compared to other campgrounds nearby that are $20 a night for up to 5 tents. The customer service was not very good as when we arrived they gave us a deal on camping since we were the only 3 families, only for the next day an employee to harrass us about not paying enough. She would not back off and was very rude. Several hours later she verified we were in fact given the deal but was still rude and seemed mad. The pool is great but a bit chilly for my liking of a hot spring with no hot tub to relax unless you pay for the private rooms.

The snake river and the 1,000 Springs are beautiful. Having the opportunity to camp alongside the winding Snake, while watching the sun rise and set over the springs and hear their thundering in the quiet of the night was an amazing opportunity. We brought tubes, life vests, and ropes to tie the tubes to the dock, and we let the kids float in the river. They loved bouncing around on the waves as speed boats passed by. The sites are pretty shady which was a relief from the blazing, hot sun.

FYI: cell service anywhere in the canyon is sketchy at best. The campground provides WiFi—but it doesn’t carry strength very far past the main building.

I’m not sure that I expected more from the “resort” before I arrived, but I did find the overall care and management of the property to be disappointing, although the staff was friendly.

For starters, the sites were cramped and campers really have to hope for good neighbors. The only water pump was a hike for most tents. When we arrived, we found our fire bowl filled with trash and ash. We had to remove the garbage and did our best to prevent to ash from choking our charcoal.

One couple was given one site for their first night and then asked to move, without advance warning at check in, per convenience of management. It’s a lot of work to set alone camp, let alone having to do it again.

It felt campers were nickled and dimed at pricey rates for ice, wood, etc., and even the fee to swim in the pool. There are signs everywhere reminded the visitor that this or that is extra.

The facility feels like it was built in 1960 and not maintained since. The camp bathroom/shower was filthy, and the though if using it made us fell dirtier than clean. I’m pretty adaptable, I live my showers, but skipping the shower seems like a good option.

The geothermal swimming pool was nice. It was really warm—like a mild hot tub or super warm bath. There are hot mineral baths that we didn’t try because they cost even more than it cost us to swim in the pool.

I would like the campground a lot more if they reinvested at least a portion of all those fees into their facility to maintain the premises.

While totally not the fault of management, the campground can be subject to really high winds. During our stay a full night and day of high winds caused many tents to completely collapse. Be advised so you can be prepared.

Would I go back? Maybe.