Best Campgrounds near Howe, ID

$10 (paid $5 with senior pass). First come, first served. Camped at site #10 in late September 2024. This primitive national forest campground was not busy during my visit. Copper Basin Loop Road accessing this campground, which has a gravel surface, was in good condition; there was some washboarding in a few places. The campground has a lower loop and an upper loop. The campground has a mix of pull-through and back-in sites; some leveling may be reuired in some sites. Site #10 is a short gravel pull-thru in the upper loop, good fit for my campervan, although very close to the campground road. There is a short path from the site driveway down to a picnic table and metal fire ring. The ground is a little chewed up from voles and cow hooves. Tent and hammock camping are possible. This site has partial shade; others in the loop are open. Little privacy between sites. Depending on the site, you can get a view of Copper Basin from the upper loop. The upper loop has two clean vault toilet facilities; I didn't use the vault toilet in the lower loop, but assume that it is clean. There is a hand water pump in both loops but shut down for the season during our visit. Trout fishing in nearby Star Hope Creek was pretty good; it's about a 1/4 mile walk from my campsite. No T-Mobile or AT&T cell service. Overall, a pretty campground; mostly wooded. I would camp here again. Boondocking is also possible along the Copper Basin Loop Rd.

$10 ($5 with interagency pass). First-come, first-served. Camped one night in site #13 on Sept 24, 2024. Gravel road to this out-of-the-way campground was in good condition. Pretty part of the Challis National Forest. Nothing remarkable about the campground itself. Looks like some of the sites have not been maintained in a while; overgrown with weeds, grass and sagebrush. Sites have tables and fire rings; some had shade-awnings over the tables. The vault toilets were clean. The hand water pump did not pump water; water was probably turned off for the season. No payment envelopes were provided - maybe because it was the end of the season. No hiking trails. Most sites are in the open with no shade; a few were shaded near the creek. Gravel campground road and site driveways. Site sizes varied. No privacy between sites. Tent camping possible. Solar recharging possible at my site. Great views of the mountains around the campground. Very quiet, peaceful evening; only one other site was occupied during my visit. No T-Mobile and AT&T cell service. There were several boondocking sites on the way to the campground.

Coordinartes: 44.16547,-112.90392. Beautiful views. Large dirt and gravel site, right along side to Skull Canyon Road, about a mile from ID Hwy 28. Canyon walls on each side. Rough narrow rocky track to the site from the highway; recommend high clearance. High humps on this track. Small rock fire ring. Grass and sagebrush all around site. Some leveling may be required. Tent camping possible. Very peaceful; can hardly hear road noise from highway. The only vehicle that drove by was a national forest truck. No cell service. There are several boondocking sites, some with vault toilets nearby, along Hwy 28 in the Birch Creek Recreation Area.

We stayed here 1 night in mid-October, 2024. Bulletin board directed us to our reserved site. never saw any of the staff and received our welcome email at 9 a.m. the next day as we were departing. Poor trees are half dead. Stay was OK except for the racket from a neighboring property with massive loudspeakers blasting reveille in the a.m. and an annoying, caterwauling rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at sunset. Nutty Arco.

We came to Craters of the Moon early, ended up being there most of the day. Instead of going on and trying to find dispersed camping, we treated ourselves to a site in the park. Sites are $15, and you must have the American the Beautiful Pass or pay park entry fee. The sites are dry camping with toilet facilities and water (no dump station). The sites are right in amongst lava field and is quite unique.
Campground was very quiet at night and very dark. Could see the sky and stars wonderfully. Definitely a great park and place to stay.

This is a decent spot if you need a place to stop in between Idaho Falls and salmon. Nice and quiet middle of nowhere spot for a middle of nowhere drive. There are a ton of other campsites and sleeping opportunities along the highway north of here that are part of the birch recreation zone.

Good option for the night the bit windy and not much protection

For our family's first vacation in our new travel trailer, we foolishly chose to visit the KOA campground in Arco, Idaho. We had informed them of our late arrival around 11 PM. Upon arrival, they handed us a map and pointed to a campsite number. None of the spots were properly marked, but surrounded by other trailers, we assumed we were in the right place. The next morning, we discovered the bathrooms were absolutely revolting, clearly not cleaned for days, despite a sign claiming daily cleaning. Mud on the floors, mold and mildew in the showers, overflowing trash, and toilet paper strewn about—it was utterly disgusting. When we returned later that day, a staff member immediately confronted us, accusing us of lacking a reservation. We provided the requested documentation, and they disappeared. Then the owner or manager approached us aggressively, violently pointing out our supposed error on the map and ordering us to move everything to the correct spot—right behind where we had parked, already occupied by another family they had mistakenly placed. In a menacing tone, he begrudgingly decided to relocate the incoming family to our original spot. This whole scene unfolded in front of numerous families at the KOA, with no regard for our embarrassment or the other campers' discomfort. After this disgraceful ordeal, we decided to just pack up and leave, not even bothering to request a refund. As we were packing, the manager approached, still not apologizing, but handed me a receipt for a refund that I never asked for nor wanted. I informed him firmly that this was not about money but about their appalling mismanagement. I intend to dispute the refund because this KOA should not be associated with such incompetence and filth and I will not accept hush money.

Great sites nestled In The lava rocks. Great hiking or biking the 7mi loop road. We didn't have reservations but got there early (2pm) it looked very full by 6pm. We got our spot, then drove our rv around to the different scenic spots and returned to camp 5 hrs later.

It was a special camping experience. They just renewed all the roads in the park. Campground is right next to loop around the park with some nice spots. Clean flushing toilets and water. Get there in time! We had one of the last spots at 5pm

Nice sites . Some more suitable for tents, other for vans. 

15$ per night, first come first serve. We were there Memorial weekend (Sunday) and there were still spots.

The turn off to the south is difficult to see at night, it’s just two wheel tracks. The one we took was about two blocks in, the road was a little rutted but the camp area was flat, and very quiet. See the Tetons to the east at sunrise, it’s beautiful.

Prices are 28$ a night unless you have the America the beautiful pass then it's 4$ they have caves that are free to access but you have to get a permit from the visitor center the spots are small and people get there late sometimes so it was a bit noisy at night we stayed for 4 days the hole attraction is because of lava formations over all a very nice stay

This is a great campground We parked at site 7 We would stay there again and next time spend an extra day or two, riding the bikes through the loop

First come first serve, clean bathrooms and water. Easy card payments for campsites. The geology of the area is really neat, and it's right off the main road drive through the rest of the park. Very unique.

I selected this campground after missing out on a nearby first come first serve that was fully booked. I am just thrilled with the campsites and cleanliness of the pit toilets and nearby stream and fishing.

Came after a few nights in Yellowstone to escape the crowds. Can’t recommend this area enough - the campground/bathrooms are immaculate and the scenery is super cool. Had a very private campsite, could still see the Milky Way despite the bright moon. Worth a detour for sure.

Great campground, very unique setting, great visitor center. Loved it!

We stayed in site 4 and we only saw one family but they were a few sites away. Part of that had to do with the rainy weather that week was. We were right by the river and it was kinda loud because of spring run off, but we got used to it and it was good! The Millcreek trailhead was super close and it was absolutely stunning! We made it up to the lower lake and thought we got there, but we actually didn't reach the real lake. Come to find out it was like another 1000 ft up the trail. 😅 Definitely one of my favorite camping trips!

Here’s my take on the Big Lost River Rest Area … there are 4 picnic tables with individual shelters to the east of the rest area. There is some reasonable grassy bits that are ok for pitching a tent. There’s no signs to say you can’t camp here, but equally no indication that camping is allowed. There’s a really good restroom building with a drinking fountain, and garbage bins. I think that parking up a RV for the night would be ok, but as for camping, you might feel the need to stealth camp.

Mt. View is in the small city of Arco ID, close to Craters of the Moon National monument. Reserving space was easy on line and making a change to our reservation was easy via email. The park has lots o trees and the sites are roomy. The owners are friendly and helpful. 24 hour laundry is available. The restaurant serves delicious BBQ, southern style in a small, homey setting.