Best Tent Camping near Malta, ID

This is a no frills campground located in the South Hills of Idaho about 20 miles south of Twin Falls.  Each site has its own fire ring and picnic table with most also giving you a shady spot to set up a tent if you want.  There is only 1 vault toilet though near the info sign.  The campsites are all lined up in a row next to the creek and trees.  There are not many sites so get here early if you plan on coming during the weekend.  It also seems like you could just park your RV in the giant dirt area to the east of the creek.  This area will be hot in the morning and shady in the afternoon as there are no shade trees to the east of the campsites.  A bonus of staying at this campground is that you have walking access to the Third Fork Trailhead!

City Of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho

Fascinating, desolate, historical State Park. The visitors center is out on the main road and has a short informational trail with some authentic pioneer wagons. The signage is good, if you need water go to the dump site on the way in, there are no spigots at the campsites. When we visited the water was turned off so I was glad I always carry water with me. The sites are well spaced out, intermixed with the rock formations. Our site was huge, with a picnic table, tent pad and fire ring. There was a rock formation on the back side that you can walk up on and see the surrounding area. There were several rock climbers on Practice Rock across from our site. The dogs were permitted , on leash, on the trails however I was concerned about the numerous cactus so we stayed to the dirt roads mostly.

This review is from July 2024, and it appears to have been a dry year.

I found the campground over run with Red Currant Bushes which were full of mature fruit.  There was also a lot of Crested Wheatgrass and Sagebrush.  The 5 campsites are still in good repair, but due to the Red Currant Bushes, access to the springs area was difficult if not impossible.  The Springs themselves, due to the low water table were all but dried up, with only a small puddle of water marking each one.  The water pump is still missing it's handle, and is now dry, so no water could be pumped.  There was a moose present when I was there, but he was down in the outflow area, and did not seem interested in anything but lying down there.  The Vault toilet was clean, odor free, and well maintained.

I cannot recommend this campground for mid summer or fall.

This is one of the last campgrounds you come across before arriving at the turnoff for Lake Cleveland.  It has a ton a ton of spots but they are pretty close together so try to camp here during the weekday or if you have to come here on a weekend go to the campground immediately before Lake Cleveland as it is a little more secluded and the sites are more spaced out.  If you're planning on having a large get together or party in the mountains then this is the best campground to come to!

Each campsite has a minimum of a metal fire ring and BBQ grill, picnic tables and some even have a large metal BBQ pit thing.  The large sites also have massive fire rings where you could basically get a bonfire going!  There are trash cans and vault toilets scattered throughout the campground.  The only problem I had with the campground is that there isn't a map and the roads through it are narrow and confusing.  Other than that this is an amazing spot to spend the weekend or a few days during the week

This is definitely the smallest campground that I encountered while traveling through the South Hills of Idaho that are about a half hour away from Twin Falls.  There were only 2 sites that I could find while driving along this narrow stretch of the river, but they were definitely some of the best sites in the canyon!  Each of the 2 sites had metal fire rings and picnic tables and a vault toilet right at the split between the 2 campsites.  Another bonus was the seclusion you get from the other campground but unfortunately not the road, which isn't too big of a problem as the traffic is pretty light in the canyon during the week.  At the campsite further to the south there were 2 little rocks pools that people had made in the stream that were perfect for cooling off in after a long hot day of hiking around in the hills.  There were also dozens of trout swimming in and around these pools that would make it super easy to fish from a chair within site of your campfire!