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2025

Spots in Idaho

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  • Lava Hot Springs
  • private business Lava Hot Springs ID
  • Six pools. The big rectangular one, around to the right in the grotto, is the very hottest - 112°. They get progressively cooler moving left. Next is the biggest and ranges from 110° to 103° according to the sign. Beautiful setting at the opening of a little canyon with the busy highway and railroad tracks right above..

  • Amanita Campground
  • Boise National Forest, Cascade ID
  • 10 site campground on the quiet side of Cascade Lake. 6 miles from the main road (55), which is a feature rather than a drawback once you get here! Site 7 is the bomb!

  • Big Wood River dispersed
  • Sawtooth National Forest, Ketchum ID
  • 20 miles north of Ketchum Route 75 opens up into a beautiful, wide valley. The road follows the west side, the Big Wood River is on the east side, and along here there is a big, flat open area in between, with good-ish gravel roads over to the edge of the river where many dispersed campsites are set up. Pretty cool! This is the same river that flows through Ketchum and Sun Valley.

  • Priest River Campground
  • Army Corps of Engineers, Priest River ID
  • Placid little place in tall firs. Swimming beach on the Priest River, boat ramp, kayak friendly. Road noise is not too bothersome.

  • Kirkham Campground
  • Boise National Forest, Lowman ID
  • Cool spot. Over a little bridge across the Payette River across the highway. A small campground with amazing hot springs a few yards away. Very crowded nowadays.

  • Bear Lake State Park
  • Idaho State Parks, St Charles ID
  • About 25 miles off the road to anywhere, but pretty cool once you're here. I'm here on a cold day in October and it's almost deserted. Bear Lake is beautiful

  • Heise Hot Springs
  • private business Ririe ID
  • The hot springs is a completely separate business from the campground. $7 for seniors off season, $1 to re-enter - cheapskates. After the fine example of Lava Hot Springs, which was excellent in every way, this place is disappointing. The single soaking pool is quite nice however - slightly sulphur-y water in a row of hot jets on the side.

  • Bonneville Campground
  • Boise National Forest, Lowman ID
  • Not very remarkable campground, except for the really excellent hot springs pouring out of the side of the creek 1/4 mile away. Campground hosts were annoying busybodies.

  • Bear Lake NWR
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service, Montpelier ID
  • closed for the stupid government shutdown

  • Wagon Wheel Campground
  • Bruneau Sands State Park, Bruneau ID
  • Quite busy on Friday night. Lots of large, happy groups. Part of the crowd is for the observatory and the Friday night astronomy show!

  • Whiskey Flats Campground
  • Sawtooth National Forest, Stanley ID
  • modest little spot right off the road, right on the river

  • Miracle Hot Springs
  • private business Buhl ID
  • Co-owned with Banbury Hot Springs. Banbury has better camping, Miracle better pools, so here's how it all shakes out: Banbury: tent sites: $10 | campground: park on the grass next to your picnic table in a pretty spot | soaking: big concrete rectangle pool (see their Spot entry) Miracle: must pay for hookups: $20 | campground: dusty and shabby | soaking: wonderful set of modern, interesting pools - a really hot one under the sun deck I call the Grotto :), a bigger cooler pool, then a long, skinny, segmented parallel pool that is a hot zone, a cold zone, and a slighter hotter zone. Really nice layout!

  • Challis Hot Springs
  • private business Challis ID
  • An awesome find! Beautiful campsite right on a bend of the Salmon River.

  • Heise Hot Springs RV Park
  • private business Ririe ID
  • Strange place - they seem to have charged me $21 to park in their yard. No bathroom, no nothin, just a parking place.

  • Zim's
  • private business New Meadows, ID
  • locals pool, basketball hoops in the water, stuff like that. -- -- -- -- Camping here this time. Offseacon it's $15=$5+$10

  • Hayspur Hatchery Campground
  • State Park, Carey ID
  • A great little find on US 20 east of Craters of the Moon. Just a nice field with picnic tables and a a few trees on the edges. No services of any kind that I can see - "pack it in pack it out". They're just giving the fishermen a nice place to park their campers. Pretty sweet! Update! There IS a pit toilet, and there is a water spigot! But no place to dump trash, which is fine with me. And there is a donation box.

  • Bear Lake Hot Springs
  • private business St Charles ID
  • closed for the season, but looked cool. Indoor pool and a couple of outdoor tubs. And a really pleasant looking campground at the northeast corner of Bear Lake. I'll bet it's hoppin' in the summer.

  • Kelly Island Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Ririe ID
  • Planning works! This is super sweet BLM campground three miles down the road from Heise Hot Springs. There is a pleasant day use area with river access. The host closes the gate at 10 pm, which is a factor if you have driven back to the hot springs in the evening.

  • Hells Canyon State Park
  • Idaho State Parks, Lewiston ID
  • shady, the camp is quiet, but there is an extremely busy highway right across the Snake River. Kind of deluxe and kind of expensive, as state parks tend to be.

  • SwiftWater RV Park
  • private business White Bird ID
  • Owner was a right-wing lunatic, but the campsite situation was superb, right on the river. Nice laundry room with shower (costs extra!) and tv

  • River Run Campground
  • private business Lava Hot Springs ID
  • THis one is right across from ther Lava Hot Springs Hotel. At the opposite end of the little town from the Lava Hot Springs where I did go.