Best Tent Camping near Menan, ID

Camping on the banks on the banks of the Warm River, which actually is quite cold, can’t get much better than this! There are several options here- tent camping in a tent only walk in area along the river banks and under some pretty good hammocking trees (best sites are #12, 13, 16, and 8 because they have some space from neighbors and are right on the river); RV sites with what looks like at least electric hook ups (best sites for river views and/or privacy are #2, 4, 6, 19); from what neighbors say is pretty good fishing; and an awesome alternative to camping at Mesa Falls if that campground is full. Walk down the road and cross the river to check out a protected area of the river where the fish are HUGE and you can stand with your toes in the river while you feed them bits of bread. The sites all have the usual picnic tables and firepits, with nice level tent pads, clean vault toilets, and firewood for sale from the campground host. The only two downsides are no showers and the campground is wedged between the road and the river, so there is quite a bit of road noise in the day which fortunately dies down once dark sets in. At that point the river covers the road noise (also helpful in the morning). The campground is close to a lot of hiking trails, but there are no trailheads in the campground (so I guess that makes three bummers). All in all, a cool place to camp.

Unfortunately it was raining the whole night we showed up. However there was a covered pavilion, with a fridge, and 2 walls. We were able to stay dry under the pavilion and cook our food on the stove we bought. We were tent camping which offers plenty of picnic tables and nice green grass. There are plenty of areas from for RV camping along with hookups. There's also a boat ramp.

Now the bad, as we were getting ready to go to bed, the sprinklers came on. Thankfully we had springbar tents that were able to take the rain as well as the sprinklers. We tried waking the camp host to turn them off. Didn't work. We just waited it out and we were fine.

The campsite firepits, and pavillions with fridges, basketball courts, a boat doc, and bathrooms (clean, with no nasty smell, and hand blower dryers).

I have not personally spent the night camping here, but I do work for the Forest Service and wanted to give more information about the Darby Canyon dispersed camping sites. I also had a friend stay here for three nights last September and they had a good time. There are about 10~ sites (I will check and edit when I can) all along the canyon road, some are just right off road and others require a short drive down beaten paths to find the sites. All of these sites (except 2 or so very close to the road) are past the cattle guard. Depending on the time of year, many of these sites may not be accessible. Snow typically stays in the canyon until mid-June and starts collecting in October. The area may also be buggy at the height of the summer (July 2024 had been atrocious). There is limited cell service down most of the road and it completely disappears the closer to the Wind Cave trailhead you get. This area has a 14 day stay limit, meaning that once 14 days (13 nights) have been reached you must move at least 5 miles away to continue camping on forest service land and cannot return to this canyon to camp for 30 days. This is in a bear food storage enforced area and any bear attractants (food, pet food, soaps, sunscreen, etc.) are required to be stored properly in a locked hard sided vehicle or other bear resistant containers. Fires are allowed but must be put out dead (cold to the touch) before leaving a campsite. This canyon is regularly patrolled by Forest Service staff and ranger law enforcement officers, especially on the weekends, to keep up with the food storage and fires out dead orders. Hope this helps weary travelers that are deterred by low-rated reviews.

I stumbled across this campground while driving Mesa Falls scenic by-way. This campground has 27 sites, both tent, RV and a group site right along the Warm River. It also has a day use area. This campground had new vaulted toilets but no showers. Within the campground was the trailhead for The railroad grade trail (great for mountain biking) which I was told use to take train passenger to Yellowstone’s old faithful. Tubing was very popular and the campers next to us insisted that we borrow their tubes so we could try it out for ourselves, very refreshing during our hot August stay.

I snagged the last tent site #21 across the bridge in the northern half of the campground. This large secluded tent site up on the hill had a very small tent pad, fire pit and picnic table and enough room to put up my hammock. This site is next to two double sites. Unfortunately during the 5 nights I stayed some of the RVers close to us ran their generators beyond the 10pm curfew and one RVer felt the need to pull out his noisy leaf blower and blow leafs and dirt everywhere.

There is tons of things to see and do in the area, Mesa Falls, Island Park… but the hidden gem is the close proximity (less than 25 miles) to Yellowstone National Park - Bechler Ranger Station. Bechler Ranger Station is in the far SW corner of Yellowstone National Park. This area has more streams, creeks, lakes and waterfalls than any other area in Yellowstone. There is a historic Soldier Station there that is about 100 years old and there are lots of hiking trails to beautiful waterfalls. You can see cave falls right from the parking lots. I would definitely return to this campground next time I am in the area.

The campground is within walking distance of Lower Mesa Falls and an easy but longer hike to Upper Mesa Falls. All the usual amenities in this campground- picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets(really clean!), plus steel prep stand tables. No cell service for me here, but I think some other campers had service with a different carrier. Definitely do the hike to the falls to save yourself a parking fee($5), or be sure to take your Interagency National Parks card and the parking fee will be waived. Not far away is the Bear Gulch hike, which is very pretty, but you will likely have to share the trail with mountain bikers and dirt bikers, so be prepared.

Free. Coordinates: 44.09981,-111.17306. Camped here on Sept 21, 2024. Set back and above busy Forest Road 582 which heads toward Cave Falls; no issues with dust from forest road. Site is also referred to as Lower Creek Road Campground. Large site, should easily accommodate 3 rigs. A few spots are level. Up on a small hill above Rock Creek. Can't see the creek, but you can hear it. Dirt surface. Tent camping possible. Surrounded by tall trees, but open sky above. Site has a bear box and a rock fire ring. There is also an old lean-to near the fire ring. The access track is pot-holed; may be muddy. No hiking trails. No T-Mobile nor AT&T cell service. It's a nice site; nothing special. Good for a quiet overnight stay if visiting Cave Falls.