Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Horseshoe Bend, ID

A little bit misleading in the description. There are some established camp spots and then there is some “dispersed” camping. In reality the dispersed camping is more like established camping on BLM land.
It can be a little bit confusing when you arrive but you take a right turn away from the welcome sign. You’ll travel by a boat launch on your left and some construction type equipment on your right as you travel down a dirt road. The mile or so is the established camping in Idaho Power property. It’ll be on your left as your drive. About 2ish miles in you’ll see a beat up sign marking the beginning of BLM land. After that there are turnouts for the “dispersed” camping. There are permanent fire pits and even some pit toilets so not exactly dispersed in the overland sense, but more like camping in the 80’s if you are old enough to remember that.
You won’t need a 4WD rig. A front wheel drive sedan can do this drive, but the road is bumpy. It was dry when I went to maybe if it’s muddy it would be more treacherous.
All in not a terrible camping spot. You’re right on the river and the bugs are too.
Remember, kids, only trash leaves trash and don’t be the weirdos “out in nature” with your Bluetooth speaker blaring music.

This is a beautiful area which is in a great spot off the beaten track. If coming from the Boise area (from the south) you can get there easily by two ways. Either through Horseshoe bend, or through Emmett. Both are nice scenic drives.

The campground is a mile or two off the highway. It is not subject to traffic noise or other noise sources so it is a peaceful location. Plenty of trees and shade. It's pretty much in the countryside without a lot of development around it. The small towns of Sweet and Ola are within easy touring range. There's not a lot to see, but very historic and interesting.

When we visited we liked all of the above however we were really dissapointed to see that a lot of the campers were permanent residents or semi permanent. This was apparent from talking to a number of the people in the park. There were a lot of extra personal belongings, equipment and vehicles. According to the bureau of reclamation website stays are supposed to be limited to 14 days, but this is clearly not being enforced. There is a campground host, but they seem to be totally OK with the "residents".

I was here alone with my two dogs during the heatwave of June 2021 (104°+). The dogs and I didn't leave the RV much due to the heat. But we were parked next to the pool, it's small and busy late afternoon early evening. The little dog park was nice although we only used it a couple times since one of my dogs does not always get along well with other dogs.

5G and 2G wifi were excellent. Towers throughout property for access points. Never a week signal. I was able to telecommute and stream without any issues and never used my Hotspot or cell data.

I would have given 5 stars except for closeness of RVs, it's difficult to reserve a site, and because of the heat and my dogs, I didn't use any of the amenities or visit any destination.

I do prefer dispersed RV sites, however this site came through in a pinch for the heat wave.

Roystone hot springs is the closest hot springs to where I live (it's between Emmett & Horseshoe Bend) so I had to check it out! I went with a church group so it was all paid for but normally a tent site is $10 and I'm not sure if it's an extra charge to use the pool. The hot springs pool was open air but has a roof (nice for the shade), made of concrete, and perfect temperature (it was a hot day but they keep the water probably a little cooler than body temperature if the weather is hot). As far as the camping, the amenities are nice but there is not much privacy (sites are all in one big open grassy area), and little to no shade. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend this spot in the heat of the summer. This is definitely a more commercial option as far as hot springs camping goes, which I'm not a huge fan of, but overall it's a well-kept place and I might do some camping there again in the fall. It is very conveniently located.

Glorified parking lot. Sewer connection isn’t threaded, instead they provide you with a rock to place on top of your line so it doesn’t blow out everywhere. Pets are allowed but the only grassy area in the whole park dogs aren’t allowed in. The entire front of the dumpsters had broken glass scattered all over the ground mixed in with the dirt and rocks. And my last complaint BEES!Hornets and wasps were surrounding our outdoor area. The laundry building was clean and maintained. Overall it worked for the 3 nights we stayed but I wouldn’t want to stay longer.