Searching for the perfect place to pitch your tent near Salmon-Challis National Forest? Find the best information on tent campgrounds near Salmon-Challis National Forest, including sites, reviews, and tips. Search nearby tent campsites or find top-rated spots from other campers.
Beautiful high mountain lake with plenty of fishing. Hiking trail connects to Bayhorse Lake. Three primitive campsites are equipped with picnic tables and fire rings. There is a toilet within the campground, but no drinking water or garbage pick-up available on site. Road access is steep and narrow. The last 1/2 mile to the lake is rough, trailers are not recommended here.
Redfish Inlet Trailhead
Eight sites are located along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River away from the busy Boundary Creek launch area. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. The campground amenities include a vault toilet and drinking water. There are no garbage services available. The water falls are magnificent and the fishing terrific.
This trailhead has hitching rails and dispersed campsites. No toilet or drinking water is available. Lower Basin Trail #4349, begins at this point. It connects with several other trails in the Basin Creek area
This trailhead provides access for the Marsh Creek Trail #4237, the Bear Valley-Marsh Creek Trail #4010, and the Middle Fork Trail #001.
Small but nice camping area along the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. Ideal for families that want a good place to hunt or fish or just relax. There is a vault toilet and the meadow across the road can accomodate larger camp trailers. Notes: There is no drinking water on site and no hookups are available, please pack out your garbage. 16 day stay limit .
Beautiful setting along Beaver Creek, this campground is close to access for the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Fishing for trout in Beaver Creek, in nearby Cape Horn lakes, and in the many alpine lakes found along the trail in the wilderness. Trail #4021 leaves the campground to go north into the wilderness. Horse corrals with feeding stations are across the road, at the trailhead. Facilities at each of the 8 campsites include tables and fire rings with cooking grills. Within the campground amenities include hand pump for well water and newer vault toilets. While there are no full hook-ups, the campsites accomodate trailers and motorhomes up to 32 feet long.
Legend
Grandjean has several campsites, some on the river, some not. Some of the sites would accommodate smaller truck bed campers and maybe trailer campers. We tent camp and needed the 4-wheel drive to get to the end of the road. I didn't see any RV sites, there might be one or two around but its unlikely that there would be hookups of any kind. There might be a restroom off the main road on the way toward Grandjean but there were none close to any of the campsites around us. I would describe this as remote car camping. Established tent sites and fire pits, beautiful scenery, privacy and not a lot of extras. The Sawtooth Lodge is up the road and does offer RV space, tent camping and cabins. I am speaking of the rustic camping sites between Highway 21 and the Sawtooth Lodge.
Scout
On a motorcycle trip through Idaho and this place met my needs. It is close to town but no noise from the highway. It was walking distance to grocery store and gas station. Check in was fast and rates are reasonable for tent site. I had a site with power and water. It was close to the bath house. Overall, a great place for a nights stay on the road.
TravelerProbably 15-20 camper spots all paved. 5 or so tent sites. Very nice. Water and dumpsters!
My recommendation: stay on the river side, the highway side can get a little loud.
Guide
It’s located right on highway 21, a few miles south of Stanley. Very small. Description says 5 camping sites but I only saw 3. There is a running creek a few feet away from the tent sites. Very quiet.
Traveler
We stayed the night in a tent site, the place was beautiful! All the grass is nice and green, volleyball court, playground, two different hot pools from Hot springs. Beautiful flowers, right on the river! There's also hiking trails behind the campground.
Traveler
This is a first come first serve for tent camping, and we grabbed the last spot on this trip. However, it was within walking distance of the water for swimming and fishing.
Also VERY clean toilets!
Other than it was hot mid-day, it was beautiful, plus an amazing hiking trail is close too.
Scout
Sunny Gulch is close to the Sawtooths for great hiking, next to the river if you want to cool off or fish and there were plenty of options. The tent sites are groomed pretty well, and they had the cleanest pit toilet I think I’ve ever seen.
LegendThis place has it ALLLLL. Tent sites, RV sites w/electric and water, dry sites; boat ramp; playground, volleyball net, clothes lines, hot springs pools(2!); showers; camp store with ice; WiFi; wildlife(two mountain goats lead me in on the road); walking trail; shade trees(no hammocks allowed). And it is next to the Snake river. Seriously?? Ok, so the tent sites are really close to the RV sites, but with electric there aren’t any generators running. And the pools close at 9pm, which seems kinda early when the sun doesn’t set until almost 9:30. But I get it. And you are close to the town of Challis with two grocery stores and two gas stations and a Family Dollar. If you can’t find what you need, you probably don’t need it. Besides, you are going to spend all of your time in the water or playing land games. The bathrooms and showers are open 24hrs a day so you don’t even have to use the porta potties scattered around the property if you don’t want to.
Traveler
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.
RangerI camped here with my parents in 2018, to hike the trails and go to their “secret” soaking spot.
There are closer spots to get some hot spring action than where we went. If you don’t find a private spot there are plenty more if you are adventurous.
We stayed in an RV, but tent camping is also available at this location.
My parents made the reservation in advance to make sure we could spend some quality time.
You will catch some sulfur smells here and there but that’s expected with the type of geological activity in the area.
There’s seemingly endless places to lounge in the river with plenty of shallow areas.
Traveler
This campground is the only no reservation campground accessible by car on Redfish Lake. It’s great if you are looking to score a campsite without a reservation. It’s a great location on the lake, beautiful view of the sawtooth range and a short walk to the beach. The campsites have flat tent sites, concrete pads for the picnic tables and fire rings and most have trees for some shade. The only down side is the boat and jet ski noise during the day. If you are looking to get away from everything you may want to look at some of the nearby river campgrounds. The bathrooms and campsites were very very clean and the camp hosts were very friendly. If you are looking for a good hike take the ferry from the lodge to the far side of the lake!
Guide
This is a fantastic campsite. The host is super friendly and helpful without being intrusive. It’s on a bluff over a creek and there are hot springs a mere 1/4 mi away. Epic! There were several campsites that over looked the creek (which was easy to hike down to). We had an epic sunrise hot spring experience. We were on site 22 on the RV side which was great because there was more space between sites. There a vault toilet on the tent site and a water pump. We wished we could have stayed longer. Recreation.gov listed a bunch of their sites as first come, first serve which the host informed me they are not. Either way he found us an open spot but with such a nice location I don’t know if that happens often. 10/10 would stay again
Scout
Stayed two nights at this campground in August. There was a camp host setup, but we didn’t see him at all while we stayed. He did not seem to be staying here. The toilets ran out of tp and many people could not get their questions answered. It’s also only about 20 feet from the highway, so expect a lot of traffic noise at all hours. There is a boat loading dock located here as well, so many people were driving in and out all day. Cell service was good if we needed it but there are several more remote areas only about 20 minutes in to the forest that actually feel like camping (Cougar Point and William’s Lake). Overall it’s decent but I recommend it more as a pit stop if you need to crash for a night. The tent sites are well maintained and running water was a plus.
Guide
If you've ever gone up to Stanley and don't believe in having to reserve a campsite on line (it's against my religion) this is your spot. About 20 minutes away from the "hussle and bustle" of tiny mountain town, Stanley, Blind Creek is situated in the Yankee fork of the Salmon River. If you're looking for amenities, don't come here--there's a out toilet, but that's it, no water or trash service. But with the river running right by camp you can easily filter your own water and there's a large dumpster at the Sunbeam pullout right before turning off the highway. Blind Creek only has 5 spots but I've never not been able to camp there, and at $5 a night you can afford to drive a little further to get into the Sawtooths or make the drive over to Challis. Beat for tent camping, though they do have two good sights you could back a trailer into, just do us all a favor, if you're going to run your generator, camp somewhere else. Keep this place quiet!
Guide
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
ScoutWe set up our daughter in our Super C here for 2 months while she worked in nearby Salmon during the busy season. We were so happy with the beautiful scenery, quiet grounds, and excellent service from the owner. If she ever needed anything, they were happy to help. There is a clean laundry room, showers, and bathrooms onsite, and more than enough space for a 40 foot RV. There are shade trees, some grass sites, some landscape rock sites, picnic tables, a gas firepit, and an onsite mini-store if you need. The owner waited for us until we arrived, helped us get our bearings, and then grew to be a friend. If you are needing to camp(even in a tent!) anywhere near Salmon, Idaho, you need to go and see Stewart at Elk Bend RV Park. Say hi to the deer that roam the area, too, or walk across the street and listen to the Salmon River. Just a beautiful area! Sites with full hookups and not. Would not hesitate to recommend Elk Bend RV Park.
Pet Friendly!
Guide
I enjoyed my 2 night stay here. I pitched a tent however it was quite windy due to it being an open area so just stake your tent down well. I had a spot right beside the salmon river and was able to access this campsite via my Honda Accord vehicle.
TravelerWe stayed here in May 2022. It was snowing. Lake was frozen. BUT the site itself was great. Level concrete pad. Walk a few steps down to a tent pad and picnic table. There were all sizes of rigs here. From tent campers to bigger RV's. Had it been warmer and we could see the views and use the lake, it would have been amazing. With the snow we couldn't even hike the trails.
TravelerI stayed here for a night without a reservation. My spot was a short walk to the river. The campsite is clean. There is a cleaning table next to the picnic table to clean fish if you catch any. My campsite was next to the freshwater well pump. The drinking water is very cold and clean. Bathrooms were clean, outhouse style. I gave it 4 stars as the ground where the tent goes was almost all bedrock and little sand/dirt to tap tent stakes into.
Traveler
We went there with two tents. The sites are large and there are enough space for more than 2 or 3 tents easily. The sites are well organized and clean, the bathrooms are well maintained and the camping is pretty close to the lake, you can reach the lake with a 3 - 5 minutes walk. We had a really good experience. Just be aware to check your car breaks because the back travel is downhill the mountains.
GuideHuge private spots with perfect tent spots with views of Sawtooth mountains and Redfish Lake
Traveler
So this site was absolutely beautiful at Redfish Lake in ID. We were in site 40 which still had amazing views of the Sawtooth range from up on a bit of a hill. I will say the reason this one falls short of 5 stars is that it is a pretty busy campground in June, but we were lucky in that our neighbors did not show up which kept everything nice and quiet. However there is a tent pad that’s big enough for two 4 person tents as well as a fire ring and picnic table. Not a bad stay during the weekdays.
TravelerI decided to stay here for one night. Spots were open but were reserved for a few days later. Other folks came in and are doing the same. A gentleman with a golf cart will come up to your site and collect the fee and give you a parking pass. I have a car and a tent, 3 people, and it was $20/night.
There is running water and bathrooms available. The sites have fire pit, picnic table and area to place tent.
We walk easily to the lake to fish in the morning or later in the evening.
ScoutStopped here on my road trip around Idaho. Very clean very open great views of the mountains around the valley. Clean restrooms nice showers.
Legend
Toxaway Lake was the first stop on our backpacking trip (Alice-Toxaway Loop). We started at Tin Cup Trailhead and did the loop counterclockwise. This campsite was about 7.5 miles from the trailhead.
We had 3 tents and each tent was able to have plenty of space from the other. We also had a great spot for cooking and hanging the bear bag.
This particular site we could walk down a path right to the lake where there was a small beach with breathtaking views!
I highly recommend this primitive campsite.
Ranger
Incredibly beautiful tent only camping sites. Wife and I did lots of swimming and hiking here. Hiked up to the bench lakes about an 8 mile round trip.
GuideThis Park is beautiful with spots on the river the rest of the park is green and lush with hot springs and showers that are very clean. $30 a night for a camp spot and we had rooftop tent♥️
Tent camping near Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in nature, surrounded by stunning landscapes and a variety of outdoor activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Salmon-Challis National Forest?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Salmon-Challis National Forest is Challis National Forest Little Bayhorse Campground with a 5-star rating from 1 review.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Salmon-Challis National Forest?
TheDyrt.com has all 65 tent camping locations near Salmon-Challis National Forest, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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