roadtripper2926411

Although the Sawtooth Recreation Area (SRA) and the NFS both indicate that there are two campgrounds at Stanley Lake, but there is really just one campground, albeit bifurcated with 2 different names, Stanley Lake Campground and Lake View Campground. Both are serviced by a common campground host and entrance off of the service road. Lake View Campground is a first come, first serve section that has a few sites large enough for moderate size trailers, but some sites are better left to the smaller rigs and tent campers. Be careful at the cul-de-sac at the end of the Lake View to make sure you swing wide enough to clear the shrubs and trees in the middle with any trailer you may be towing.

Stanley Lake Campground itself is part reserved camping in the older section, closest to the lake, and part a first come, first serve newer section a little further north and a little further from the lake. None of the roads or campsites within the campgrounds are paved. Services include water via hand pumps, the cleanest vaulted toilets I've seen, garbage and recycle dumpsters.

The reserved sites go quickly online, and as of this writing and was mostly booked up through Labor Day weekend. The ~15 sites that are first come, first serve within the Stanley Lake Campground section are well spaced with 4 vault toilets, serviced by a very dusty gravel road with a wide cul-de-sac turnaround at the end. There is a trail and a short walk to the lake from this section of the campground. This a new section that was completed a couple of years ago, so it looks a little bland in comparison to the older section as the small lodgepole pines have not had much time to mature. Most of these sites have a fairly long gravel footprint for larger trailers or motorhomes, and a sand tent pad. Sites also have a nice wooden picnic table, and fire ring.

Please be aware that there are no speed bumps within the first come, first serve section except for the one just as you enter. The Area Manager for this campground and others within the SRA, is in a site right at the speed bump, so he doesn't get much of the dust that others in this section get. The posted speed limit within the campground is 10 mph; however, the Area Manager has no problem driving faster than that kicking up dust to make his daily rounds. Appropriately, the nice camp host drives a golf cart which does not go very fast and kicks up very little dust. She is also very friendly and accommodating. To avoid some of the dust, it is recommended that you find a site closer to the end, closer to the lake outlet. Many of the other campers drove too fast and simply did not care about the dust they were causing. While there are a few reserved sites within Stanley Lake Campground and most of Lake View Campground that have a view of the lake, there are really none in the newer first come, first serve section. However, you will be able to see the beautiful McGown Peak from just about everywhere.

If you are looking for one of the first-come, first serve sites within either campground, I recommend that you disregard the 'FULL' sign that you will undoubtedly see as you enter into the campgrounds from the paved service road that comes in from ID 21. We were just about to leave the area after seeing the 'FULL' sign when I asked a trailer leaving the campground looking for a RV dump if there were any available sites, and he said there were plenty.

Speaking of RV dump stations, there ain't none here. The closest public dump station is at the ranger station just south of Stanley, about a 20 - 25 minute drive from the campground. We drove all the way to Idaho City before we were able to dump our water.

The check-in procedure for the first come, first serve section is to find an empty site that you want with no date tag on the post and go ahead and park and set up. The nice camp host will be by in her golf cart to get you registered and collect your monies. She also sells firewood.

There are dispersed camping areas before you enter the campgrounds off the service road which are free, widely spaced and fairly close proximity to the lake and other trails in the area. They would suffice for most campers If you don't need the vaulted toilets, garbage cans, hand-pump water or lake front proximity.

Stanley Lake is a beautiful place for boating, fishing, swimming or just hanging out by the water's edge reading a book or throwing sticks in the water for your yellow lab. Unfortunately, motors are also allowed on the lake and we saw one personal water craft tearing about ruining all serenity one afternoon. There are trails close by which gets you into the Sawtooth's.

There are mosquitos at night but not many in the morning. We were also told that bears sometimes come into the campgrounds if food or grills are left out. We had about 2 bars of cell service, a couple of FM radio stations and no TV from our antennae.

If you have an older NFS map, there maybe a symbol for a campground called Inlet Campground. I recall pitching a tent at this campground some 40 years ago, but it has since been discontinued and is now mostly under water due to the recent liquifaction of the inlet side of the lake as a result of a 6.5 earthquake in March 2020, which actually made Stanley Lake just a little larger with the sinking ground.

This is a smaller campground on the north side of the hwy from Yellowstone NP to Cody, WY., with a very nice camp host. Not many amenities in the campground, and there is no water. Each site does have a bear box, picnic table, and fire ring and there is one vault toilet in the campground.

Our site was level but there are very few sites with open views and there will be some highway noise. The campground is prone to spring flooding in wet years. Do you remember those? Consequently, the river bank that outlines the north side of the campground is undercut and is not stable near the river's edge. Mosquitos will be a problem after a rain.

Its an easy campground to get in and out of, and a couple of sites would accommodate larger rigs.

Well, I didn't check Google Earth before I booked. Otherwise, I would have seen just how close our campsite was to the Hwy 71. This was our 4th Texas State Park in a little over 2 week's time, so I thought Bastrop would be as off the beaten track as the others. Not so much, here. You are very close to the highway, and the noise inside our coach is noticeable, even at 2100 hours.

The reception at HQ was very professional and accommodating. And, they have a gift shop there along with Blue Bell ice cream!

There are many short hiking trails throughout the park, and they have playgrounds for the kids, and a swimming pool during the summer.

The park roads are narrow and the 30 mph speed limit is about 10 to 15 mph too fast, really! We got buzzed by both a motorcyclist and a bicyclist on the same walk along the road. I would try and stay on the trails.

The campsite loops are very nice and clean, although some of the sites are stacked somewhat close, and our sewage hookup was ~30 feet away from our sewage connection. So, I chose to use the dump station the next day upon departure, rather than run 3 sections of sewage hose over the ground just for one night. The bathrooms are clean, newish, and includes showers.

We were in a full hook-up site in the Cooperas Creek Camping Area loop. However, I would op for the Piney Hill Camping Area loop, sites 1 - 25 next time as they are just a little further away from the Hwy.

The campground is located about 6 miles from the Hwy, and sets in a heavy forested area close to the cliff, approximately 250 feet above the ocean. Although there are no scenic views from the campground, one does not need to walk very far until you get to one.

This is a state park that only has a small number of full hookup sites for "hosts". Otherwise, it's water and electricity only. Also, there is NO DUMP SITE at the park, period. So, if you are in a rig, that might dictate how many days you want to stay here. Also, our 30A service plug was loose, so I used a 50A converter plug and plugged into the 50A service.

The campground has trails that lead to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, and to the beach where you can get on the Oregon Coast Trail, and walk forever. We hiked to the Sixes River and back, ~5 miles, and it took us about 3.5 hours.

In 3 days, we didn't see one park ranger, and only 2 volunteers. Oregon now uses a 100% online reservation system, so its advised that you make reservations before you arrive, even if it has vacancies.

First come, First served. Arrived about noon which was perfect for obtaining a spot. We asked a very nice volunteer, Bob, regarding availability, and he directed us to options and there were several. However, by 1700 it was completely full.

I read another review regarding supplies and fuel, and it was right on. If you will need it, bring it with you. Beatty, NV., has diesel and it is reasonable.

This is dry camping. Water is available and there is a dump station as you leave the campground. The price is about right.

We don’t often frequent RV Resorts, as our limited experiences with such have not been favorable. We have found that overall, RV Resorts are anything but. However, here is one that I think really is what they say they are.

Indian Waters is miles away from the freeway, in I think a very nice neighborhood. Although, there will be sirens as the property is right behind a police and fire station, and there is some traffic noise along Jackson St., there certainly is no constant freeway noise.

The reception at the office was pleasant, not friendly, but pleasant, and a lady came out to direct us to our site by golf cart. She knew what she was doing and was a stickler for having me square our trailer perfectly on the pad for aesthetics. I am usually not so fastidious about such, but ok, I get it.

They have 10 different classes of RV Sites, with different rates, but I believe all of them are nice. We reserved an ‘A Deluxe Patio Grass site, and that’s what we got. The grass was well watered and green. As this was early March and there were no Canadians because of the border closure, there were plenty of vacancies. So, they put spaces between us and our neighbors which was nice. One of the maintenance guys told me that they let the grass die out in summer, then they scalp it and reseed each Sept for the winter season. The lighting was appropriate and not too bright. We had a hedge behind us between us and the next row, so there is privacy, and you may forget that there are some ~272 RV spaces and 8 rental park models on the property.

We used one of the 2 pools and 2 spas and the bathrooms were very clean. Their laundry facility was very nice. However, if you need change, you have to wait until the office opens at 1100 to get it. They also have what we think are liberal pet rules. As this is CA, they do have recycling.

This park is managed by the concessionaires, PisgahAdventures.com who have some of the best people I've ever dealt with in a federal government campground. Like a bonehead, I reserved a site without services, and the park has a 4 hour limit on running generators. I was concerned that it might be too hot, so, I went back up to the gate and asked if they had any sites with electricity. The nice ladies worked hard and got me a 'Host' site that had full hookups, for a few bucks more. Dude...score!

There are many sites without services and a few with hookups. There are 3 loops, and one loop has most of the hookups. There is a small lake where there is fishing and swimming. However, dogs are not allowed on the swimming beach. There are many bike and hiking trails nearby, both within the bark, and just outside.

There is no camp store. However, they sell ice and firewood ($10) at the gate. The only recycling are aluminum cans.

GPS got us to the park, but I was suspect going through a residential area before arriving at the gate. There are a lot of sharp turns, hills and dips.

To get cell service, I drove a couple of miles outside the gate for 2 to 3 bars of 4G AT&T and 1 bar of 4G Verizon.

There are 11 spaces that are full hook-up, but I wouldn't count on more than 2 or 3 being available as they have long term residents in many of the other spots. In addition, we found the spaces to be very narrow, and even one slide-out might be an issue. $35 @ nights or $155 @ week for FHU.

We chose the dry-camping parking lot over a couple of available RV spaces, just to not be so cramped up. For dry camping, they have 2 options, a paved parking lot next to a boat ramp and shower/toilet, or up on top of the jetty in an unpaved gravel lot with a beautiful view, but exposed to the Columbia Gorge winds that the windsurfers and kite surfers live for. The cost for either area is $10 a night.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and of course the office was closed, but there is an honor system with envelopes and a drop box at the front of the office.

There will be lots of hwy noise as you will be right off the interstate, and in addition, there will be many trains going both east and west, blowing whistles. They do have a nice toilet and outdoor showers, but they were closed in early October. There is also trash cans about as well as a RV Dump site.

I wished that Idaho would use Texas as a model for how to manage State Parks. Idaho views their State Parks as just another hand out for money, and so they don't want to spend much on them. In fact, Idaho doesn't want to spend much money period! Whereas, Texas, see's their State Parks as opportunities for both locals and visitors to get out and enjoy camping experiences. While they are draws for tourism, most of the vehicle plates that I observed at this park were Texas plates...meaning the locals use their parks! Texas clearly views the monies they spend on their parks more as an investment, rather than just another expense. Guadalupe River State Park is a prime example of money well spent. My only complaint is the lack of recycling. Ok, off my soapbox.

This is a great park! It has river access for swimming, canoeing and kayaking as well as many miles of hiking trails. There are no sewage hookups, but other than that, this is a park that I could easily spend a week in if I had the time.

The HQ building is well staffed with friendly folks that really want to help you. They also have a gift shop in HQ that carries all sorts of park stuff.

Our site was level and quiet with a lot of privacy for such a short pad length. I will say that people drive too fast through the camping loop, and the weekends can be a little noisy, depending on if your neighbor wants to play their music too loud. It only takes one!

Beautiful park. Rate reflects senior discount. A couple of sites will accommodate medium sized rigs. We had electricity and used the dump station at the Latah County Fairgrounds. The water was secured at the time we were there in early June.