Best Campgrounds near Lava Hot Springs, ID

Great place for our overnight stay. Easy access to pull through sites with ample space between the sites. Nice clean bathrooms with showers! Electric and water worked great. Would definitely stay again.

Stayed in #14 which is small, but suited us well (van). Other sites tend to be larger. #13 is best one, with shade on the west side, a good level driveway and backs up to the creek. 

Lots of ants and flying bugs, making it hard to stay outside for very long. #9 is also nice with a large spread and decent shade. There is one vault toilet across from #13, a little stinky but relatively clean and had hand sanitizer. Another one is adjacent to the entrance and it has 2 toilets each for women and men; hard to find, back into the shrubs between two concrete markers at road. 

Lots of shrubs means sites are pretty private. No real hiking trails identified in the area means there is not much to do. Didn't seem overly busy. 

Food aside: Had freeze dried mushroom wild rice risotto with Popeye's chicken nuggs and spiced up with lemon pepper and Italian seasonings, also used parmesan. Putting nuggs into bag at end of cooking time and stirring worked fine to incorporate them. Very tasty and 2.5 servings means very filling. Broke up astronaut (freeze dried) ice cream sammich and put into freezer overnight before putting into milk for pseudo milkshake with cappuccino mix. Not bad, worth trying again. Also had sweet potato curry with applewood chicken cubes (fully cooked packet), seasoned with garlic. A bit spicy but good. Freeze dried breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy good flavor but need to break up the biscuits before cooking or they are big and end up being soft on the outside but dry and crunchy on the inside.

The place is big and the locals certainly come here. Each site has a picnic table, a fire ring and some grass. They’re fairly level. The bathroom and the showers are huge and very clean. Small trees at each site now so until they get big, there won’t be much shade in the summer. Very close to the town for the soaks. It’s very close to the highway which is a plus, but there can also be some traffic noise. Beautiful views.

Had the whole campground to ourselves. It is free to stay here after September 15th. We camped the 1st of October. Just a quick pit stop. Was a little hesitant at first because it seemed so far from the highway but it was so worth it! There are bathrooms as well but bring your own TP as this time of year I dont believe anyone comes to check on them. Also, no more running water either. However, the creek is lovely and we were able to have a fire and every site had a picnic table. Very pleasant experience.

I reckon it’s a decent place to spend the night. The road up although somewhat steep at times can easily be accessed without 4WD. A few nice sites right as you enter with fire pits & picnic tables. Unfortunately most of the sites are right next to the road, which the locals seem to rule with their 4 wheelers and side by sides, making lots of noise and dust.

This place is in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. I drove all the way out here only to find the gate to someone’s ranch with a no trespassing sign. Super frustrating.

Great camp ground with spring nearby

The KOA is just off US-30, so easy to find. Our GPS and Waze did not have the exact address, but you can easily see the KOA sign coming in from the east. We were traveling with another couple and there were basically two marked check-in spaces. You have to pay attention to where you position your rig so you don't block office car parking. We had reserved a premium K-9 site and were assigned site 102 at check-in. Site 102 was 1 of 3 premium sites next to the office. The problem with site 102 was 1) there was a truck parked there with no owner in sight, 2) trees that would have scraped the top of our 5th wheel, and 3) a very difficult and tight back-in swing on this 90-degree site with our 40' rig. You need to be an expert backer, or very lucky, to clear the trees at the entrance of this site if you're in a larger rig. Sites 100 and 101 do not have these same obstacles and with the river view, are arguably the best sites in the park. We went back into the office to request a different site and were assigned a non K-9 premium back-in site, 200, in their new area. We would have enjoyed the original site as it does have a nice river view. Sites were under construction in the 200 area and each site is highlighted by 7-inch high and 6-inch wide cement curbs. Whoever designed much of this CG did not understand RVs. It was challenging to back into your site as there are also cement barriers to protect the sewer hookups off the curbs in front of sites on the adjacent pull-through sites. We almost tore off a snap pad getting too close to a curb as the curbs are not sloped to prevent this and based on the markings, a lot of tires have fallen victim to these curbs. Also, we had to be very careful going up and down our steps as you have the curb there as well. While we were getting into our site, a 45’ class A was trying to get into pull-through site 221 across from us. Just trying to make the turn onto this row, he ran his rear tires up on the curb around the shower/laundry facility. He still had his toad attached and had to disconnect it to avoid damaging his vehicle. Hopefully, the management of this park will mark that site for shorter rigs as he also had problems clearing the curbs when departing his site. Their free Wifi was decent. We got 3 bars on Verizon and no issues getting a shot to the north sky for Starlink as there are no mature trees in this new area. There are plenty of other CG options in the area, so we will not stay here again. The main positive of this CG is the staff. They were friendly and accommodating when we requested to change sites. They also credited us the diffrence in cost since we didn't get the K-9 site, without us asking for the credit.

We absolutely loved this small cabin. it had a fenced area and plenty of room. bathroom was clean. Must bring your own toilet paper, water and mattresses but it's worth the hassle.

The campground itself is nice. Nice spots, beautiful river and waterfalls, and close to Lava Hot springs. The trains; however, were a drag at night. Not many ran during the day but at night we counted 8 that went by. The tracks are only about 100’ from most of the spots. The real kicker is, because there’s a crossing to get into the campground, the trains blast their horn literally right as they pass you. Like excessively so, unnecessarily so. It was not a great nights sleep.

Bathrooms and showers are very clean, some sites are widely space, but some are crammed together, otherwise, a typical KOA.  EXCEPT it is expensive and they add on extra fees for people, pets, and vehicles; never stayed at a KOA that does this.  Oh, the road noise is pretty bad also.

We were in the Lava Hot Springs, ID area and when traveling US-30, we saw a sign for Caribou Highlands Golf & RV. We had to check out a golf course with an RV park. When you turn off US-30 at the sign, it will be a hard-packed dirt road and you go straight until you see golf course signage and follow them to the course. You will first come to the campground (CG) area where the 10 pull-through sites with FHUs (30/20 AMP). Check-in is at the clubhouse which is about 100 yards from CG. The pull-throughs are long enough for big rigs. A few of the sites have large trees so you will want to watch your sides and roof. There's a bathhouse building. There are no picnic tables at the sites. The cost per night when we were there was $42. During the week its pretty wide open but they do fill up on the weekends. Reservations are made on Campspot. The golf course is a 9-hole links style. They also have a driving range.

I love summit campground. If you go up the hill past the turnoff for the campground there are five different dispersed camping spots that are Free! There is a lovely little babbling brook that runs through the whole canyon. The mosquitos can be intense. There is a lot of great trails for hiking. There is cute waterfall. I come here often just to say camp and hammock. It is 20 mins from my home. They stock the river the weekend before memorial day with trout. It's where my kids all learned to fish. There is also a paid campground with bathrooms and water and picnic tables.