Best Tent Camping near Mesa, ID

Great campground..set for RVS .but you can tent camp as well. Water hookups...no electric. They do have companion sites..a place for two trailers...

This is a small tent camping campground right off Highway 55 and across the highway from the Payette River.  Lots of shade trees.  No amenities.

Stayed a few nights while exploring area. Camp hosts do a great job keeping the camp facilities very clean.  Our site a bit noisy in the evening (tent camping) due to periodic logging trucks rolling by, but not bad. Overall great facility

My only complaint is that you can’t reserve tent sites in advance. Otherwise it is quiet and has some good places to stretch your legs. On the snake River which is nice.

I have stayed here on a few occasions. The tent sites are great and separate from the RVs. Bathrooms were super clean. It was in the fall, so there weren't a ton of other visitors. Definitely recommend!

I came here during the summer of 2020 with my family. We had a great time. It was relaxing and beautiful to be outside. The sunsets were nice it was clean and quiet during the duration of our stay. The campsites themselves can be a little cramped and we were tent camping. Other than that, it was great with easy access to the water.

Rates went up in 2018 :(

Ponderosa has 2 parts to it. Their main area located next to town is good if you have an rv or like a lot of people. It gets very crowded and can be noisy at night. But water access is pretty easy, along with biking & hiking.

Their other area of tent camping is a little more quiet. Fcfs with 0 hook ups but is basic.

Great places to hike, kayak, swim, or go boating. After 6pm motorized boats are not allowed on the water. It has cabins as well as tent sites. Not very secluded, to many people for my liking so if you dont want neighbors try another place. It does haave a little store which is nice.

Living in Idaho near the border of Idaho, I was looking for a great catfishing spot on the Snake River. I found this campground along the Snake just on the other side of the border - eastern Oregon. The campgrounds are AWESOME!!! The have all the amenities for RV camping. They do have tent camping sites as well. There is some great history of the area and we were appreciative of how the State Park system displayed it. Great fishing for the shore angler as well as boat anglers. I fished from my kayak and caught crappie and catfish as well as some smallmouth bass. I would definitely camp here again. They do have a dump station for RVs as well as restrooms. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table.

Ponderosa in McCall is a massive state park complex. There are hundreds of trailer and tent camping sites. The main campground to the right of the main gate is very busy but is very close to the day use beach. the beach and day use area is great and the views of payette lake are worth it. follow the roads or hiking trails up toward the north end of the lake and there are awesome cliffs to look over the entire area as well as some really good huckleberry picking, if you know where to go.

We tent camped here in July 2018. Sugarloaf is off by itself at the end of the lake, so it’s a little more laid back there. Our group simply set our in the morning and camped out on the beach with our gear. we had paddle boards, a canoe, and a floatie and spent the entire day out there. there was some nice sand for the kids to build with. We also went fishing in a different spot and watched the most beautiful sunset. The birds we saw here wwre absolutely amazing. we saw multiple ospreys, pelicans, and mountain bludbirds. I would go back to camp here any time.

As hard as they tried, it seemed park staff could not keep enough water on the campground grass to keep it green. It was 100+ both nights we were there. Our RV A/C never turned off! The water level was so low, the river didn’t even look inviting. The only folks we ever saw were park staff and the poor soles that were tent camping. RVers were all inside with AC. We’d consider staying here again... at a cooler time... for one night while passing through.
No AT&T service.
We saw snakes, lizards, squirrels, rabbits, frogs, an owl, and lots of geese out on the water.

On Oregon Highway 86 in Hell's Canyon at Oxbow, across from an Idaho Power Station (and managed by Idaho Power), this was a handy place to stay to be close to a boat launch for a rafting trip we had booked. 

There are tiny campsites (maybe the smallest I've seen) and lovely large campsites here. We lucked out and had reserved a big one on the lawn instead of a little one against the rock wall. We were near the power station but we didn't notice it much due to the trees and stream.

There is shade! This was nice considering it gets hot in Hell's Canyon. Even being next to the river and in a rare shady spot in the canyon, the after-dark temperature was in the upper 80's when we stayed here in early August 2020. They water the lawn at night to keep it green, so heed those "sprinkler - do not camp past this point" signs. The bathrooms look nice online (inc. showers), but we camped here during 2020, so we had a row of sunbaked port-o-potties to contend with.

The location was super practical for our needs, our spot was spacious,  and the canyon is beautiful, but due to the heat I probably would pick a place higher up on the canyon rim or closer to Halfway, OR to camp if camping were the main goal (especially in August).

Fair amount of bugs, but that's not specific to this campground. 

Some stats, according to the Idaho Power website: Day use in the park is free. 59 RV sites with water and electric hookups(30-amp); 10 tent sites with shared water; Picnic area with tables Fire rings; Additional vehicle and boat trailer parking available; Public pay phone (phone card required for non-local calls); Boat launch and docks located approximately one-half mile downstream of the park, on Homestead Road

Copperfield was a mining town known as “the rowdiest town in Oregon” in the early 1900s. Fire destroyed the town in August 1915. The park was built in 1965 on the old town site of Copperfield, Oregon. (https://www.idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/parks-and-campgrounds/copperfield-park/)

Picnic Point on warm lake in the cascade ranger district is one of the most amazing camp grounds out there. It is on a elevated bluff overlooking the lake and the lodge. There are 8 tent sites in this walk up only campground. When we were there there were still 4 sites available. If you are lucky you can get a site that overlooks the whole lake. The guys next to us had hammocks and an unobstructed view of the lake. During the day the lake was busy with boats and people, but it quiets down a lot at night. Pit toilets are available, and if you forgot something the lodge at the bottom of the hill will gladly charge you for it. This place was amazing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gear review. As a dyrt ranger I also get products to test and review in the field. On this trip I reviewed some of the products I received from Green Goo. They have organic natural based balms and salves for most needs. The first day I got quite a few mosquito bites around may ankles, and man did they itch. I rubbed the green goo first aid balm on them and the itch instantly went away. I noticed that it lasted all day too, which calamine lotions usually do not. That night as we were getting ready for bed, we massaged our 1 year old son with the baby goo. It has a very pleasant smell of lavender. I'll tell you what that baby slept so well we have started using the baby goo at home. he loves it and the shiny tin keeps him distracted as we put it on him. I highly recomend all of green goos products they just work. Check them out at http://www.sierrasageherbs.com/index.html

This small campground has it all. Sand area for tents, showers and rent boat, canoe and kayaks at the small marina

Clean campsite right on the river which has access for boat put in/wade access. Perfect for fishing the St. Joe. Large campsites as well (able to fit multiple tents)