Pipeline Campground

When you are relocating and stopping just one night in a place, sometimes you find yourself in a cramped RV park, or a Walmart parking lot. Sometimes you stumble on a beautiful free BLM campground. That was the case at Pipeline Campground near American Falls in Idaho.

We just needed an overnight place to break up our journey and ended up spending a magical evening sitting on the end of a pier watching the sun go down and the beautiful birdlife. The campground is less than 2 miles from the freeway. There are just 8 sites here, some are not suitable for RVs, but a few of them are. There were a couple of uninhabited RVs there, and some people using the boat ramp and fishing people when we arrived. But as the sun went down it was just us and the pelicans!

The flies are monumental but they were not biters! We managed to enjoy the sunset with minimal interference. Just be careful when opening the doors.

A scrubby but pleasant site right on the Snake River. Lots of shore birds to watch (a hallmark of the town it's in, American Falls). Boat ramp. Clean bathroom, easy access to the campground, but except for two sites adjacent to the boat ramp, the others are rough to get into. We used the first one as you come in, very picturesque. But the loop to get in and out if the campsite is not graded and full of big ruts. We ended up backing out when we left, up an incline. Thank goodness for four wheel drive. Many bugs but not too many that bite. Ground around site was a dusty dirt, so be vigilant.

I took some pics that show the turn off to get there as we got turned around. Maps show it is off Neely, but as you can see in pic it's Eagle Rock.

met some good folks
saw some cool birds

I needed a quick spot not too far off the main road for a place to grab some sleep before moving on. Pulled in way late after dark and found a suitable spot. I imagine this place is frequented by locals due to ease of access. Good spot for a stop but can't say I'd stay for a week. Or even 3 days... arriving in the dark did lead to a wonderful surprise in the morning when I saw my view!

Some larger TTs but not really large rig or big rig friendly at all.

No generator rules. Several still running at 1am. (But hushed by the sounds of the river)

Cool spot by the water. Smells and sounds like the ocean. Great view and ambience to sleep and wake by.

Complete with table and fire pit. Plenty of space for tent camping if desired.

Very easily accessible. Clean. Quiet.

Overall this is a great place to camp. There’s trash left behind in several camp sites but that’s at almost any free place unfortunately.

The road in is very good, a mix of gravel and paved but no major ruts, dips, or potholes. It would be an easy drive in for bigger rigs.

There are 4 primary campsites when you first pull in. The first few are do-able for rigs up to probably 30ft with some creative driving. Larger rigs will probably want to camp near the boat ramp. Another option is to continue down the dirt road past the bathrooms to a few other potential campsites. They don’t appear to be managed so there’s no metal fire ring or picnic tables but the road is sandy but good and the spots are pretty level. Bigger rigs could probably fit in those as well.

Verizon cell service was spotty sometimes but manageable. I used band locking on my MoFi and was able to get on average 5Mbps but it did drop to 0.5Mbps for periods before going back up.

There are a ton of different kinds of birds here! I use an app called iNaturalist to identify things and I saw over a dozen different kinds of birds during my stay, including a bald eagle. There are garter snakes around, I saw 3, so be sure to watch step as they’ve got really good camouflage.

I would definitely stay here again.

What an insane night. At first this place was solid. We didn’t get one of the first four main sites but we drove down the road (potholes but not too bad). There was lots of trash - like previous reviews mentioned. This place must clearly be a local teenage desert party hangout or something. The bugs were bad but the sunset view was amazing. We took a beer to the water and waded around. But then evening hit. We tried to go for a walk to see the area. We got 100 feet before being completely swarmed. We realized we’d be spending the rest of the night in the RV because it was insane. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that one of our vents was open. Within ten minutes we had an entire swarm of these flies in our RV. COVERED the ceiling inside our RV. We desperately tried everything to get them out. Long story short we had to leave and stayed at the nearby RV park, which is gorgeous and no bugs. I would not put myself through that hell again.

My review is based on an extended stay in late September/early October, when the river level was being severely drawn down (well over a foot during this time), leaving a 6-10 foot swath of fish-stink marsh mud and phosphate foam along every riverbank access. Moreover, the water was murky and covered in scum, making it unusable for even wash water, even if you could get to it. Happily, there is a potable water faucet at the nearby Massacre Rocks State Park, or the Shell station in American Falls. The Snake River is generally clear and relatively clean, so a stay earlier in the season would improve matters considerably. Prior to this I had spent two weeks some hundred miles further downriver, where the water was much cleaner.

As for the campsites, there are six in the official campground, only four of which are riverside. I stayed at the third spot in, which is by far the best for tent campers. Those with large RVs or trailers will be limited to the two sites on either side of the boat ramp and docks, which have back-ins parallel to the river. Smaller rigs could manage the other sites, but only the first two are pull-throughs, and roads are very bumpy and uneven. Of those the first is the best, the second being the worst spot in the park, with no shade or grass to speak of. The 4th spot is really just a grassy area with table and fire ring right off the boat ramp parking area. Only the one I stayed in ("3") could really be considered "secluded". There are a few dispersed sites further on beyond the campground, but that road is in very bad condition.

There is one vault toilet which was stocked and swept once during my stay, but it was not otherwise cleaned. Upon arrival it was littered with a mass of dead (and living) flies and spiders, but the weather turned chilly after the first week, and the single sweeping left it fairly fly-free for the remainder of my stay. There is also a dumpster and trash service on Wednesdays, so you do not have to pack out your own garbage.

As for noise, there are occasional trains along the tracks across the river, but the river riffles were loud enough to keep their intrusions to a distant rumble, and only rare horn blasts could be faintly heard as they passed through American Falls several miles away. The fishing boat activity was plentiful, but of course only during the day, and most of these took their noisy motors up or downstream beyond the range of sight or hearing for the most part. Only one loud party took place on the first two weekend nights, but the rowdy cowboy music was kindly toned down each night around 10:30 or 11.

The sunsets were fantastic, mostly given the vast amount of wildfire smoke in the western half of the country right now, and the birds were plentiful and endlessly fascinating to watch. Herons stood guard along the shoreline while cormorants observed from above and pelicans patrolled the waters like sailing vessels gracefully gliding by. Given that it's a free campground, I have no complaints, but no great recommendation to make either. I'll come back in spring or early summer sometime.

Great spot close to I-84 with gorgeous views of the Snake River! It’s nice and tucked in with some trees to protect you from the wind.

Great find right next to a beautiful river. Nearly empty on a Saturday night. Can’t ask for much more in a campsite. Bathroom was out of toilet paper and floor was littered with dead bugs, but hey that’s what a personal poop shovel is for.