Best Tent Camping near Irwin, ID

This was perfect. I got a spot right on the bank of the Snake River. It has all the basics.. a picnic table, fire ring, most sites also have bear boxes for food storage; there are vault toilets, firewood for sale, and potable water available.

$20/ night for sites, $40 for some sites that are double tables/parking.

I didn’t have any neighbors, and I would guess maybe only a quarter of the sites were occupied. In the evening it did get a little annoying with lots of moth‘s flying everywhere. They seem to like to land on my white truck and I had to cover my food while I cooked, and kept the tent closed. Not a big deal, but they were noticeable.

While not this campground per se I thought it’s worth mentioning that just across the river there are also a large number of free dispersed campsites, some right on the river, some along the road as you travel away from the river. To get to the bridge you still take the Riverside Campground exit off the highway below the damn. Pass the campground cross the bridge and you’ll see them on your right for about a mile. I didn’t stay there. It looks like they have firings and nothing else but they’re free and plentiful.

Pro: easy access, right off the highway. Con: right off the highway, traffic noise. Located right off Hwy 189/191 about 8 miles from Hoback Junction the WEST side of the highway. I camped here for 1 evening before a Grand Teton summit trip. I chose this campground for decent proximity to GTNP (45 minutes away) and the availablity and easy access of sites. I believe there were 12 sites that all had picnic tables and fire rings. There were several other cleared sites, some without tables and grills, that had alpha identifiers other than the 12 numeric sites. Not certain how many alph sites, but looked like tent only sites. They were all $15 nightly and an additional $7 for extra vehicle. They had one site with electricity, right next to the camp host. this one site is $25 a night. The campground has pit toilets, bear boxes, water, dumpsters. The Hoback Runs next to several of the campsites. I would highly recommend getting as near the river as possible to drown out the noise from the highway. Camp hosts were very nice! I only had a $20 to pay my fee with. They brought $5.00 in change back to my campsite after I placed it in the depository. They have firewood for purchase for $6.00 a bundle. I was a runner up in a Dyrt camping contest last month. with my REI gift card I purchased the Big Agnes MountainGlo tent lights and a Sea to Summit sleeping bag liner. Fun to try these out!

Gros Ventre is close to the southern end of Grand Teton National Park entrance. It's a large mixed use campground with lots of RV and tent sites. They get busy as do all of the campgrounds in or near the park, so get there early to get a site. Even getting there at 11am, we got stuck pitching the tent on an RV loop. Sites all had fire pits and picnic tables and were level. The campground is next to the Gros Ventre River and across the street from Antelope Flats. We were duly warned about bears and food storage (keep your cooler in the car), and bison have been known to wander into the campground in the past. No showers on site, but you can visit one of the other park campgrounds or just drive into Jackson and go to the Recreation Center. For less than $10 you get a day pass that gives you access to the showers, pool, etc.

Absolutely gorgeous campground with amazing hosts especially Ben the cat!!! Super quiet and sites are spacious and far enough away from others you still feel secluded. It is incredibly dark at night, I've never seen so many stars in the sky! No light pollution at all. I really wish I had brought my telescope. Very nice park approved fire rings at each site and firewood available for sale at the host lot. Also large bear resistant food boxes and large picnic table available at each site. Water is available to fill your fresh tank but there is no where to dump grey or black tanks so be mindful of that especially when you have to travel 8 miles down a rough dirt road. Hosts did however reccomend we could empty a couple buckets of grey water in the vault toilet if we had to and even offered to let us use one of their buckets. There are vault toilets available and bear resistant dumpsters. Also no cell service at all but I didn't mind. Beautiful waterfall and hot springs you can walk or drive to. Many beautiful trails to walk as well. This is real camping folks; no hookups, no wifi or cell service ...only fresh water and firewood available. Make sure to bring everything you need as it's nearly an hour from town. Generators allowed until 10pm. $15 a day and I believe it was a 16 day limit. First come first serve, no reservations.

Be sure to throttle it way down into low gear as the long in road is really rough! If you like remote with at least the basics of picnic tables, bear boxes, and fire pits, this is your place. The sites next to the creek are the nicest and most level, and all have bear boxes (and notices about mandatory food storage). While I didn't see any bears, there were quite a few mule deer in the meadow in the evening., and I had to kick elk scat out of my tent space before set up.The vault toilet was clean enough, but could have been better. The campground is very close to Granite Creek Hot Springs, a pool type hot spring with a fee to swim instead of a natural hot spring pool. Word is that there were some pools at the base of the falls, but I wan't up for the hike or the very cold fording of the "creek" as it was very full with spring runoff. The manager let me hop in to test the water (too cool for real enjoyment according to him), and didn't charge me when I got out after just 15 minutes. The whole time I was in the pool he was regaling a couple with his story of a grizzly killing an elk calf the week before a few miles away. He was quite the story teller, and had the video on his phone to prove it. It was a "grizzly" tale.