Best Tent Camping near Idaho City, ID

Tent Camping Reviews near Idaho City, ID

532 Reviews of 56 Idaho City Campgrounds

• 

  Anna W.

  Traveler

  Jul. 7, 2019

  Boise National Forest Bad Bear Campground

  Nice little campground. Small sites.

  Bad Bear is a nice little campsite outside of Idaho City. The sites are good size with adequate privacy. There is lots of tree cover for shade during those warm summer days, and a babbling brook at the back of the campground. Each site had a picnic table, fire ring, and there is a well for water and a vault toilet. We enjoyed our stay here, mostly because there wasn't anyone else camping in the campground when we were there in mid-July! Score! We grabbed the big site, but the other sites seemed a bit small. Would recommend for a easy campsite close to Idaho City and just a quick little jaunt from Boise.

• 

  Anna W.

  Traveler

  Jul. 7, 2019

  Point Campground

  Quiet, easy camping right on Redfish Lake.

  Lovely little campground with many amenities close to Redfish Lake Lodge. Each campsite has a dedicated level pad for tents, a picnic table, a bear box, and fire ring. The sites are a bit open, so privacy can be a bit lacking if that's a concern. This campsite is also walk-in, so you will need to use provided wagons to bring your stuff to your site and park your car in the provided parking lot. There are also bathrooms which had flushing toilets and running water and are well maintained. We loved that Point Campground is within walking distance to Redfish Lake Lodge, which has a bunch of different activities: horseback riding, kayaking, a dog beach, mountain biking, fishing, etc. This campground is great when camping with children, especially with the bathrooms & lack of car traffic on the tent-only side. We will be returning!

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• l

  lee

  Traveler

  Jul. 1, 2023

  Mores Creek by Steamboat Gulch

  good for a short stay

  A variety of free and dispersed sites, most of them with rock campfire rings, near a nice shallow creek. A fair amount of RV and ATV traffic but still feels pretty secluded. No bathrooms or anything like that but it's only a 3 minute drive from Idaho City.

• M

  Mark

  Traveler

  Jan. 17, 2021

  Little Camas Reservoir

  A forgotten gem

  We camped here in June 2020. There are clean vault toilets but not much else. The reservoir was practically empty. There were not picnic tables and the roads off the main road were not maintained. It was hard to tell if there were campsites there at all, but there were fire rings so we pulled in next to one and set up. One other camper came in later and set up down by the lake, but otherwise it was really quiet. Nice place to get away from everyone during a pandemic.

• K

  Kyle J.

  Guide

  Sep. 2, 2024

  Dog Creek Campground - Idaho

  It's ok as a fall-back option

  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.

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• 

  Amy S.

  Legend

  Oct. 25, 2020

  Grayback Gulch Campground

  Above HWY 21 off the road

  This is a great campground between Boise and Idaho City.  What is nice about this campground is that it is up the mountain away from the highway so the campsites are bigger and there is less road noise.  There are mature trees for shade and space between the campsites for privacy.  This is a great place for groups and there is a large designated area for group camping.  The campground is clean and I will definitely come back.

• 

  Amy S.

  Legend

  Oct. 25, 2020

  Edna Creek

  Nice Campground

  Edna Creek campground is  off of Highway 21 and is a little farther off the main road that some of other near by campgrounds.   It is a little more private and quiet.  I like this campground because it is more geared toward tent camping.  There is limited space for larger RVs.  There are no RV type amenities.  Just vault toilets, picnic tables and campfire rings.  I believe there is also a water pump.  Lots of access to hiking around here which is a plus for me!

• 

  Mike W.

  Guide

  May. 16, 2019

  Mountain View

  Easy to get to, right on the Payette river

  This campground has some decent sites down near the river, but the sites up higher are noisy due to the highway, and don't have much shade. There are no hookups or dump station, so this is a weekend site for most. There is a water spigot to get water from, and a couple of small outhouses, but the one near our site had been destroyed by a falling tree and just closed instead of being rebuilt. The sites have picnic table, fire ring, but not much for tent pads.

• 

  Annie C.

  Legend

  Jul. 31, 2021

  Bench Creek Campground

  Quiet but no services

  Up near the top of the pass is Bench Creek campground. There are only 6 sites on this lollipop loop, all on the non-highway side. But you can hear the highway from everywhere in the campground. Sites 2, 3, and 4 back up nicely to the creek. Vault toilet but no water or trash, so pack in pack out. Across the highway are some OHV trails, so you will also get some of that noise in the day. Every site has the standard picnic table and fire pit, but fire season is real, so maybe skip the fire.