Best Tent Camping near Leadore, ID

Wow!  Absolutely the best spot to set up camp if you're looking at doing an alpine attempt on the roof of Idaho, Mt. Borah!  The campground sits right around 7200'  which is a decent bit cooler than the Big Lost River Valley to the west.  There is also a good bit of shade despite there being few large trees.  Its kind of a transition between the sage brush and juniper climate zones.  There are picnic tables and metal fire rings @ each site but there is absolutely no running water so be sure to fill your water bottles and camelbaks in Mackey which is the closest town.  There are vault toilets but no other amenities.  The perk of being fairly primitive is that the sites are only $5 a night!

If you're planning on summiting Borah it's a good idea to get an alpine start <6 AM so you don't get baked by the sun as there's no shade the last 2 miles and sparse shade the first 1.5.  It is a brutal hike if you're not prepared.  The trail ascends 5200' of elevation in just over 3.5 miles.  Your legs will probably burn, bring hiking poles for the descent!  If you don't feel like hiking there are plenty of rivers nearby in which to fish and great spots to check out the scarp of the 1980's Mt. Borah earthquake, which you drive across on the way to the campground/trailhead.

Just a few miles out of the small town Lima Montana, this campground sits nestled in the mountains with a beautiful view and very few visitors.

There is a gravel road, which was well kept when we went. We made it fine in our sedan.

The are supposedly 4 sites, but we only noticed 3. We aren't a Friday night up there and we the only ones at the campsite.

There are 2 vault toilets. It looks like there was a pump for water, but it was either broken, or I just don't know how to use it. Be sure to bring water.

The picnic tables are solid and nice. The camp fire rings also come with grills.

Overall, even without running water, we were prepared and had a great, quite, and beautiful stay at East Creek.

Shoup Bridge  Campground is a small Campground surrounding cottonwood trees along the banks of the Salmon River. It is also right along the Highway.  We found this a pleasant campground to stay in, plenty of flat ground for our tents and only $5 a night.  A few sites are quite small, but still room for a tent. This was our Scouts jumping off point for a backpacking trip the next day.  While next to the highway we expected a lot of noise during the night, but that was not our experience, the only real road noise we had was in the early morning with worked out as it helped wake us up.  Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring.  Water is available and the area has a vault toilet and trash cans.  Campground has a boat launch.

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.

This is the spot to camp if you plan on spending most of your time here out on the water!  It seems like the entire west side of the campground where it meets the water could be used as a boat ramp and offers nice easy access to the reservoir for any age!  It is also the campground that is closest to the interstate (read busiest)  We were there on a Tuesday and almost half of the campground was full.  I can't even imagine what its like on a weekend let alone a holiday.  

The campsites themselves are pretty basic.  A fire ring and picnic table are at each of the sites with vault toilets within walking distance.  There are pretty much no shade trees so plan on bringing an umbrella or something similar to keep yourself cool.  If you cross over the dam to the west side of the reservoir you'll also see a sign that is exactly half way between the north pole and the equator!