Milner Historic Recreation Area

We camped at Curlew and then scouted Milner Rec Area out, site 1 at Perch Point was our first choice of all available sites in the whole campground. We pulled in on Thursday around Noon, site 1 was open, yay! Stayed here for 6 days. Weekend locals drove through frequently, though our site was secluded enough for our privacy. A beautiful walk through our shaded spot pass our picnic table and fire pit to the Snake River.
T-Mobile fluctuated from 1-3 bars of 5G. Nice easy drive to Burley for Walmart, Library, and eating out. We have a 22 ft TT Aerolite, site was level. Pulled by a 1500 Ram PU. Restroom had lots of flies, small annoying little hitch-hikers from surrounding weeds.would stay here again, but probably won’t since we’re always scouting new places.
Payed $7.50/night with Golden pass.

The area by the snake river is really neat. There’s not much shade but that’s normal for this area. The campsites by the river are popular for campers and day users. Even if you have the campsite by the water, people will come into your campsite access the water anyway. Some are nice about it and some are not.

The main thing that colored my experience here is the locals. This gentlemen brought his trailer rv…ran a genny all day and night. And tied his barking dogs to the trash reciprocal so you couldn’t get to. He was very rude and in cahoots with the local ranger as well. What a way to be welcomed to the state of Idaho. Thanks.

I hope other users experiences are much better here than ours.

Needed to find a place to sleep overnight and stumbled upon this gem managed by the BLM. The beautiful, clean, and quiet spot was literally right next to the Snake River. So peaceful yet felt very safe with other families also in the area. Tons of room between sites.
I drive in from the east and the roads were great and freshly paved. The campground/rec area itself is on a gravel road but it was in good condition. There was a underpass so if you have a large rig read up on the size. For me this was exactly what I was looking for.

To avoid the 11' low clearance railroad trestle we came in on 30 West and went as far as 1100W Road, and then traveled on the washboard from hell. We did a mail run to Murtaugh and I noticed the next street, 1200W was paved and had a Milner Rec Area sign at the intersection of 1200W & St Rt 30W. This would be a better option. You'll see another Milner Rec Area sign to turn right where 1200W intersects with Milner Road.

As the week went on, we ended up using Exit 194 off I-84, Ridgeway Rd to Frontage Rd., as we made runs to Twin Falls. This was the best route and Google Maps brings you right in. This route, until you actually get near Milner Road, is paved and an easy ride, while avoiding the dreaded railroad trestle with 11' clearance. It will bring you to the intersection of 1128W & Milner Rd which is one block down from the directions above.

Once on Site, from start to finish you're on a narrow but passable paved road called Milner Loop. After the train trestle there are no more camping areas, it's just the exit. Each area has a BLM sign with a unique name for those camping spots and all had vault toilets, with dumpsters or trash cans. Camping areas are not paved and some spots have deep lose gravel.

Now I know there are some people who can park anything anywhere, but that's not me. So no one else would have to walk each camping area like I did, I'm providing details for those of us who don't like dealing with surprises if at all possible.

Camping & Other Areas:

1st: Perch Point - 5ver Friendly - has 8 spots. The first few are a little tight for anything big but as you follow the road to the left there is a circle with a few spots that would accommodate large equipment. This group of spots is easy to miss. It's not well signed by the road. The access road is opposite the entrance sign with the pay envelopes.

Other Areas:
You'll pass two with large parking lots. One is the boat ramp on Bicentennial Road. The other is a boat ramp/picnic area on Site Center road. You'll also pass one of the entrances for the Oregon Trail. It's a paved foot path but off to the side you'll see markers for the actual trail.

2nd: Cedar Point - 5ver Friendly - which has 2 areas. As you enter there's a sign for Cedar Circle to the right with 5 spots and all spots were just out in the grass but had views of the river. Then there were 2 spots off on there own circle to the left beyond the handicap toilet and could accommodate large rigs, I guess that's Cedar Point. We stayed in the circle on the right. I think this was the most 5ver friendly area.

3rd: Trout Point - NOT 5ver friendly - 4 great spots right on the river. One on the left even had a dock. Very tight for maneuvering but I saw a large trailer, bus and 5ver there so, if you're up to it. I'd walk it first to see what's in there, not easy to tell from the road.  Not an easy turn around.

4th: No Name - 5ver friendly - I saw no BLM sign for this but you'll cross a cattle guard and just before a vault toilet right at the road you'll see the access road and there are 2 spots.

Other Area: the gate for the other end of the Oregon Trail foot path

5th: Bass Bay - NOT 5ver friendly - 2 spots, one kind of back in the trees the other way at the end of the road. Not an easy turn around when you're in there.

Last stop before the train trestle which you'll see at this point:
6th: Muskrat Bend - 5ver friendly - 3 spots with a circle turn around at the end.

Beautiful campground on the river. As other reviewers have mentioned, camp etiquette is poor. The campsite next to us ran their generator all night, let their unruly dogs run amok, and their kids drove ATVs through other peoples’ campsites. And, despite the easily accessible dumpsters there is quite a bit of trash everywhere. The campsite gets an A+, the campers get an F.

We stayed for a long overnight while traveling between Idaho Falls and Boise. The gravel roads were fine, the sites clean, and many site options available. We parked on the loop, backing into a 50ft long gravel site. We are big and heavy, so it was great to find such a good quality site.

The location is terrific, with the river/lake, wide-open spaces, and very few people around. We first pulled into the asphalt parking lot/boat ramp, unhooked, and went for a drive around for a spot. We found the site quickly and had no problem backing in with the RV. So nice to be able to let the dogs run around and walk to the water's edge. The site had a fire ring and bench. There were people fishing at the end of the day.

Thank you to other reviewers for pointing out the low bridge on the east entrance, we avoided it because of you! The wind apparently never brought the small of the feed-lot our way, so we had fresh air during our stay.

$5 overnight fee, but half off with Interagency Pass so we paid $2.50. We were the only campers. About 9 miles off Hwy 84. Easy drive in. No steep inclines and mostly paved. When you enter, the paved road will take you to a parking lot with a boat ramp, but if you veer to the right and take the gravel road it’ll take you to some larger gravel pad sites (keep right at the restrooms). I saw mostly level back-in sites that will probably fit up to a 40’ RV. The sites have a fire pit and picnic table. There are vault toilets, and a few small trash cans around the sites. The restrooms were fairly clean, but the toilets had not been cleaned in a while.

There will be mosquitoes and flies. The night we arrived we couldn’t smell any “manure”, but we could in the morning for a couple hours and then it went away. It all depends on how the wind blows. Many areas in Idaho have this smell and I didn’t find the site to be as bad as most places.

Quiet at night, but there is a farm across the lake and we could hear them working for a few hours. All was quiet after 10p.

There is nothing around this area so bring your supplies.

We had two cell bars on T-Mobile and could stream Netflix.