Best Tent Camping near Riggins, ID

Good views of the mountains. Beautiful lake. Impressive marina for those who are trailing boats. Emphasis on RV camping rather than secluded tent camping and I prefer tent camping. Bathrooms clean.

An incredibly beautiful area. It is rugged and feels so wild. Plan to take your time driving up 17 Mile road (takes about an hour to get here from Riggins!). The views are spectacular and easy to find. There are some areas that can be pretty dry and hot, so make sure to plan ahead and bring lots of water. There are several hikes that can be done in a single day or stretched out to multi day trips that go along mountaintops and alpine lakes. I have never seen more than a handful of other groups out here. This is one of my favorite places to go stay. After hiking, camping, and enjoying the mountains, head down to the Salmon for a swim! Watch out for black bears, rattlesnakes, mountain goats in the area.

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

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!

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.

This little gem of a campground is worth the effort to find. We drove past the sites along the road to find this one. It was right off the road. You will see the sign and the pit toilet. The sites are accross the road and behind the building. There are only two tent sites that are available. You can probably find more spaces for more than two tents.

Parking is available close to the sites but you will have to carry gear to the site. Worth it!

this campground was always my favorite growing up and it still is today! they have very spacious camp sites, lots of variety (ie tent sites and full hook up sites) that would fit anyone’s needs! There are very helpful hosts onsite campfire you can buy and a jr ranger program my kids love! They also have a playground for the kids in the heart of the park! Wallowa is well worth the trip!

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.

This is a nice little RV park that is close to most things in the Joseph area.  There are several RV sites as well as tent sites.  There are also several sites that look like full time RVer's that live in the park.  The sites were a little close together, but they were able to move us after the first night so we had a little more privacy.  The bathrooms and showers were clean.  The campground was very quiet with great views of the mountains.  There is a little store onsite that also has games and books to barrow.

We spent Memorial Day weekend at this park. It was fun, the kids rode bikes, we rented a row boat (they have kayaks, SUP's, etc). The town of Joseph is about 10 minutes with a cute main street area. We stayed in A25 and I think it is the smallest tent site in the whole park (the reason it got 3 of 5 stars). We had a small creek that backed the spot that limited tent placement to one slightly sloped spot squeezed between the road and the picnic table. It was nicely treed by the picnic table which was nice. If we go back, the spot to the right of us (A26) was a really good one (would've been a five star for sure) - spacious, multi tents, etc. This end of the campground was the closest to the lake access, store and docks.

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/)

This RV Park is a little gem in Riggins, ID. Nestled next to the Little Salmon River, the sound of the river at your campsite is so soothing! The campground itself is narrow with only one row of sites available. It is situated between the Little Salmon River and HWY 95 (Main St.) you don't get much highway noise because Main St. is up high on a cliff which blocks the noise. Each site has a picnic table but no fire pit. It is $30/night and well worth it! Most sites have full hook up with cable TV and Wi-Fi available. This campground makes for a great home base for those that want to fly fish the Little Salmon and Salmon Rivers. You can also walk to downtown Riggins for a bite to eat or do some shopping :-) We had a great view of the Little Salmon River from the rear of our travel trailer. We would DEFINITELY stay at this campground again!

This spot is for tent campers and maybe some pop-up trailers. It is dry camping and they do have some restrooms in the area. Nice sandy beaches for those that want to relax near the roaring sound of the river. Great salmon and smallmouth fishing upstream or downstream. Downstream is the confluence of the Salmon River and the Little Salmon River near the town of Riggins, ID. There is an Elk Farm on the other side of the road up the hill from the campsites. During the rut season (fall) you can hear their bugles echo through the canyon. If you are an experienced paddler, you can kayak this stretch of the Salmon River. Just be careful of the fishing boats that can sometimes cruise through this stretch at high speeds. Some parts of the season, the campsites can fill up. It is first come, first serve. Pack out what you pack in and keep the site clean :-)

I went to book this for a weekend for a family trip in the summer.. They do not have any tent spots. She was OK with our motorhome and one tent but the minute I said we had two kids and two small tents. She immediately informed me that she would not be renting to us. 

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)

Council is one of my favorite areas in Idaho. This campground is well kept, wooded, and easy. There are some dispersed camping areas near by as well!

The state parks in Idaho are some of the best we have found in all our travels. The only downside was no services in the midst of a heatwave. 100!!!

This campground costs $10 a night, for a tent spot. Nice creek running by the campground. Plenty of spots to choose from. Does not get heavily used.

There is great hiking from the campground. Close to McCall!