Best Tent Camping near Stanley, ID

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.

Area of FS road #638 and #630. Large flat area around an old burrow pit. Very popular and lots of campers when I visited. Not a lot of privacy in my opinion, but it is only a few miles from Stanley Lake boat ramp.

This area along lower Iron Creek Road had some rough free dispersed spots that had cell signal from Stanley. As of June 2023 there are info boards and signage that notes dispersed camping only in designated spots marked on the ground with new signs. I saw an A group and a B group and may be more farther up but the road was so rough washboard potholed I did not check. These sites are small and not suitable for RVs and large TTs in my opinion. No toilets, no dumpsters and no water. However, this is very close to Stanley town.

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.

This 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.

I passed this place on Labor Day weekend and decided to stay. They officially don’t have tent sites but had some grassy area where I could pitch my tent anyway. That did mean there were no picnic tables or fire rings for me but the RV sites did have them.

The bathroom/showers were small but clean.

The bar/restaurant serves good food and the staff and locals were very friendly and offered all kinds of suggestions for my trip

Free designated dispersed campsite along Sawtooth Nation Forest Road 137. Camped here at the end of September 2024. Very large designated dispersed site set downhill from the forest road; no issues with dust from this road. The area is level. May be able to park 3 rigs. Tent camping is possible back from the parking area toward the metal firering. This area can accommodate 3 or 4 tents, or one big hot tent. Corral Creek is just down a short path from the campsite. The sound of the creek can be heard at the site. Very quiet area. Mountains on either side of the site. The parking area is dirt and gravel. The "tent" area is grass and dirt. Don't see opportunities for hammock camping. No cell service. No shade; solar recharging and Starlink possible. 3 day limit. Hiking trailheads and vault toilet at the end of the forest road.

Alturas Lake Inlet campground is tucked into the lovely, shady forest around it. We saw plenty of birds, chipmunks and tiny wildflowers were all over our site in early July. The lake is a short walk but some campers drove over just to make it easier to tote their chairs and water gear. Bring layers - it can is cool in the evenings and at night (40s F) even in July but warm in the day, especially if you are out by the lake. We tent camped at site 17 and although it was near one of the many vault toilets, smaller trash dumpsters, and water spigots, our site was bigger and we set up a decent distance from it. Most sites seemed to have a good distance between each other and enough privacy courtesy of trees and various plant life. We didn’t have any issues, but there plenty of signs reminding campers to be bear aware. (We are pretty careful to keep our food, cooking supplies, toiletries and whatnot in our car when not in use anyway). We did not have cell service (Verizon) and it was a bit of a drive before we got it again. Overall, it’s a beautiful retreat well suited to escaping the heat of summer if you have a tent or small trailer/pull behind.

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

We were hauling across Idaho and Stanley was BUSY! Campgrounds were loaded with people RV’s. Stanley looked like a great little town, but we had to get away from the crowds.

We ended up going out 75N to check out some sites. There were quite a few nice places along the Salmon River. The river was gorgeous and a hotbed for fishing/rafting.

We ended up going north along the Yankee Fork in Sunbeam. The campground had 4-5 sites all mostly along the river. Restrooms were in quite good shape and all but one site was taken. As per usual, we did FF on a busy weekend and still got a site around 5 or 6. We couldn’t believe it was open as the sites had fire rings, tables, and space between.