Best Cabin Camping near Minidoka, ID

My daughter and son-in-law were visiting from out of state and wanted to go camping and bring the boats. We chose Lake Walcott mostly because of the campsites that were right on the lake. There is a dock although we didn't use it as we had the canoes and kayaks with us which we were able to just tie up at the campsite. The toilets were within walking distance and was clean and stocked. I noticed there were rental cabins as well but we were in tents. The only downside was a very rowdy group of teenagers that decided to camp right next door to us. Great lake for the boats. We had a blast!

Sites are intermixed with RV and tents, but I’d say your best bet is trailer or RV or even renting one of the cabins there as the sites are within earshot of the highway. The Sagebrush cabin has a gorgeous view of the river and is close to the bathrooms which were clean and had showers as well. The cabin had a futon as well as a bunk bed; it had electricity and was very clean, but you do have to walk to the bathrooms. Since it’s a state park, you will have to pay an access fee but it’s not bad. There is a great disc golf course here as well and the state park has some neat historical points nearby to include Register Rock. Must visit!

We had stayed in cabin Coyote on the lower loop and even though the view was beautiful the area around was unpleasant. No trees, no shade at all. Thankfully we had our canopy! The cabin itself was nice, had a futon, bunk bed (twin on top, full on bottom), had a window a/c, heater, table and 2 folding chairs. A mini frige and a stand to store items under he frige. The front porch had a cute little chair and it must of been made for kids because it was super low to the ground. We did have to bring our own bedding. The cabins had enough lighting and was clean. The bathrooms were across the way and they too were clean and well taken care of. Showers were super ok and clean. Next time we will try and get the one next to it which is Cottontail. Shade and trees on that site.

Paved roads in, plenty of trails that lead to even greater views. Clean bathrooms and showers. If you don't have an RV, they have cabins that look very nice also.

We stayed 3 nights in site 24. It was late June in the midst of a record breaking heat wave. We did have shade in the afternoon which helped tremendously. Our site had views of the Snake River.. There is a really informative visitor center. A couple of easy walking trails along the original Oregon Trail. Fishing access parking is generous an not close to the campground which we liked. There are a few cabins here.. There is disc golf, too. Pro note: Jim Dandy Brewery in Pocatello has really good beer

We would definitely stop again.

PROS:

• Easy access to the interstate
• Host and Visitor Center worker were extremely nice
• All sites have E/W
• Sites were private, generous and clean
• A lot of the sites have great views of the Snake River and canyon wall
• Great historic area on the Oregon Trail
• Disc golf
• Easy access to the River at the sperate boat launch area 1 mile away
• Day use area away from campground
• Bathhouse on both upper and lower loop. Showers. (Very dated, but clean)
• Hubby said to mention there are ample Pokémon opportunities.
• There are a couple of cabins with great views.

CONS:

• Not a lot of shade
• Closest shopping is American Falls which is very limited. Pocatello is about 40 min away but has great breweries, food, Gander RV (large retail store) and large town stores.
• Bathhouse is dates and has heavy oxidation in the shower which makes them appear dirty, but they are not.
• If in the upper loop, you do hear the Interstate noise. Not in the lower loop at all.

We would definitely stay again

Easy getaway as we're from Pocatello. It was hot, but we had a great time. The camp hosts were very helpful and super friendly. Bathrooms and showers were close and clean. Lots to do with the visitor center, hiking trails, the Snake River, and historical sites like Register Rock and Oregon Trail sites. We had a camp trailer. Water and electrical hookups were great and the dump station is fairly close. We'd come back again when it's not so hot.

We stayed here the end of September. Our Garmin RV GPS and Google Maps had us exit earlier than exit 216 off of Interstate 84 coming from the NE. The emailed state park instructions have you get off at exit 216. Since the roads looked RV-friendly on Google Maps, we took the earlier exit. It was fine, but exit 216 would have been more of a straight shot. The RV GPS and Google Maps eventually followed the brown Walcott SP signs all the way to the campground (CG). We had a couple of interesting turns at the far side of Rupert, but no big deal. When we arrived at the CG check-in building, it was unmanned. Since we had paid online, we paid the $7 vehicle fee per day via envelope and then proceeded to the CG. As a side note, the next morning, we got a call from the park office that our tow vehicle was included in the nightly camping fee, so they gave us our envelope back. We saw a right turn to the tent and boat ramp area and decided to go straight, and as we rounded a corner, we saw the RV campsite sign and proceeded to pull through site 5 with water and electric. The site was plenty big enough for our 40’ 5th wheel and our F-450. The water and electric were in the middle of the site, which was nice. There was decent water pressure, and we had a clear shot to the north sky for Starlink; however, to the south were mature trees. This site had decent spacing between the adjacent sites. We got 2 bars on Verizon. There are two tent areas, one that’s to the first right with the day-use area and another that’s adjacent to the RV CG and cabins. Most sites here will take larger rigs, and the center and north sites will give both north and south shots for satellite. There were a couple of interesting quirks with this state park. 1) The park’s sprinkler watering times were special, with our site getting an hour's worth at 1:00 PM with five rainbird sprinkler heads. However, the grass and trees were in good shape for this desert-ish area. 2) As we have seen with COEs, there’s a dam between the lake and the river, so when they open or close the floodgates, there’s a siren that goes off until the process is completed. We had this happen our first night at 1:00 AM. In the park’s defense, they have both of these activities posted in several locations. There are a ton of areas to walk your dog, and we saw deer during our walks. There’s a dump station located as you enter the CG area. We enjoyed our stay at this well-managed state park.

It’s hard to beat a site like this in Idaho with so many amenities. It’s a very large site and the fee isn’t bad about $7 a day if I recall. I’ve mostly camped here for a group event but it’s one of the best Idaho sites I’ve been too. Just be prepared for lots of spiders in July, also this last time coming through we were struggling with chiggers

This is a surprise off the 84 in Idaho so if you are looking for a campground off the main freeway this is it it's got a dump station it's got rv camping tent camping it is got a great history and it's got a section of the original organ trail that you can check out and if you're into birding definitely a place to go and you can fish the river upstairs that go down to it and it's just got Frisbee golf course as well so I definitely recommend it

TTo start off this is an Idaho state park and requires a fee to enter (was $10)  This is a great place to go if theres swarms of climbers at the City of Rocks because of the fee which tends to drive away most dirtbag (endearing term for us) climbers haha.  There are a multitude of fantastic routes there and some good bouldering to be had as well.  Another one of the great things about this park is they have yurt, small house, RV, and tent sites, so no matter how you like to camp theyll be sure to get you into something comfy!

This beautiful state park is located right off of the freeway about 7 miles outside of American Falls, Idaho. There is a little bit of road noise at the park because of the proximity to the freeway but it wasn't a bother at all. The views of the river are beautiful and the sunset was amazing. There are a lot of trails to walk on here, and since the park is pet friendly our three big dogs walked the trails with us. There is a disc golf course, although we didn't try it out. The camp host was great. The bathrooms were clean, although only half of them are open in the off season. The only draw back we could see is that the spots aren't very spacious, so if you're new at parking your rig, or if you have a really large rig, it could be a tight fit. We were in a 33 ft TT and the pull through spot (17) was plenty long, but kind of narrow. Spot has 50 and 30 amp hook ups as well as water if you camp during the summer-no water in the off season.

The relationship between City of Rocks National Preserve and Castle Rocks State Park is still not clear to me as this campground appears on the National Park Service website, although it is an Idaho State Park. That said, the park rangers seem to work cooperatively. This campground is delightful. Located about a 7-mile drive/walk to the entrance of City of Rocks, Smoky Mountain Campground is situated above the valley providing a wonderful view from many sites including space #19 where I parked my campervan.  I believe the walking distance to the reserve could be shorter by taking any of the hiking trails from the campgrounds rather than going along the paved roads which first go away from the City of Rocks then back up again, making a big "U". 

During my one-night stay in February, water, showers and bathrooms in the campground were closed for the winter season. A very clean, pit toilet is located in the equestrian parking lot across from the campground entrance. The distance from the campsites to the bathroom will vary from quite close to about 1/4 mile max. And during the winter season, there won't be much competition for the spaces close to the bathroom, as I was the sole user during my time there. 

In addition to the breathtaking views, the sites offer privacy from 3 sides though all face the loop access road. There are picnic tables, fire rings and electrical power. I did not note if water was available as it would have been shut off in February in any event.  There is a dump station about 1 mile down the road toward the exit. I do not know if it is open in the winter.

Check-in during the off-season is accomplished by envelope collected at the entrance or directly to the ranger who came by in the morning to check-in. The rate was $27 per night. Definitely worth the money to stay in this tranquil campground so close to the magnificent City of Rocks.

Stayed one night, beautiful and quiet. Big trailer spots. Felt like a clean town park setting. Hookups and dump station at the entrance.

Nice park with plenty of trees by the Lake Walcott reservoir on the Snake River. There’s a variety of camping areas spaced out for varying needs. The parking lot for the boat launch is spacious and can accommodate many vehicles. The deer tend to come in in the early evening hours to enjoy the park too and are not very spooked by people. Just a short distance from the park is the overflow from the low dam where you can see a variety of birds enjoying the water and the shallower rapids for fishing.  This is a quiet campground that’s away from the noise and hubbub of the cities.

This is a State Park with beautiful landscaping and walking trails. There are plenty of RV and tent sites. The lake is absolutely beautiful with views of mountains in the distance. We stayed in space #13 with a lake view. The space had its own bbq grill, fire pit, picnic table and full hook ups. The park was about 1/3 full and quiet. We definitely want to go back. We highly recommend, especially if you want to include boating or fishing.

Primitive camping requires hauling camping goods to site. No site parking for the tent people. Rv parking is good with plenty of room. Nice little boat launch with Great Lake to play in. Fishing was good and kids loved the swimming.

Nice capacious campground on a beautiful reservoir. Cooled off during the hot days swimming in private spots on the lake. Water and electric hook ups, fire ring and picnic tables. There was no shade in our site but the ones closer to the lake had some trees

I’ll start by saying that we were overcome with insects. That clearly tainted my experience. Maybe the bugs are only there at certain times but they were thick. People were wearing head nets and we spoke with a number of people who were cutting their trips short as a result. Beyond that there was no real good water access for the kids. There was a pretty good park with play equipment for the kids during the midday hours. It probably wouldn’t be too bad for a day spot.

Nice facilities including hookups and showers. Good place to use as base camp to explore area. Close to Twin Falls, City if Rocks and Craters of the Moon

My wife and I lived here in an old RV for a year while we were working in the area. It's a pretty clean place, mostly residents but there were usually a few open RV sites as well as a few tent spaces. It is right on the highway, from our spot I could've thrown a rock and hit traffic on the I-84. The owners are nice and live on-site. They have a little gift shop that also has a salon in it. Not a bad place, not a great place, but good for what we needed it for.

Our 1st camping experience here was good. The site we got was one nice and a good size. We had a view from f the river down towards the lower loop which was closed due to weather. Pros were good location, close to the bathrooms/showers which were kept clean at all times. The camp host was super polite. Overall it was a nice 1st time trip . Cons were we could hear some traffic from the freeway,other than that we will go back and try the lower tent camping..

This trip we had a site in the lower camping sites. Now before we went we had gone to google earth and saw the site. However, it was larger looking than n google earth then it was the n person. We had a nice view, a little shade and we plenty of walking paths down to the river. We had water and electric hook ups. The bathrooms/showers weren’t too far. Overall had a nice trip.

We showed up during the week so it wasn’t too packed. Brought our fishing poles and although we didn’t catch anything, was well worth it. Be sure to go up to Register Rock up the road! So much history here. Highly recommend!

This this was our first time at Massacre Rocks State Park unique and beautiful we drove around the campground to our site which was the pull through with a lower picnic area not much space where we parked but lots of trails picnic tables and the Great Snake River to keep us busy we had just stopped for the night on our way to Lake Walcott and we plan on going back the end of this month to spend more time and Adventure on!