Idaho – Page 2 – Trailer Travels

Pine Flats Campground, Idaho

On July 11th, 2019 we left home and headed to Pine Flats Campground northeast of Boise, Idaho. This was the first segment of our much longer journey depicted in the included map. We arrived late in the afternoon and found one available spot on the far side of the campground from the river. We camped for three nights and departed for cooler air on July 14th, 2019.

On our way, we decided to stop and view Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho. These falls are 45′ higher than Niagara and 1000′ wide. They were very impressive and worth the stop. The associated park has a convenient parking area for RVs.

After arriving at Pine Flats Campground, we chose a site, the last available site. It was great, had sufficient shade, and was quite private. However, we learned that southwest Idaho at an altitude of just 3,700 feet in July is way too hot for relaxing around camp. The afternoon heat drove us to use both generators to power the air conditioning unit, something we rarely do.

While at Pine Flats, we enjoyed the local hot springs, rafted down the Payette River, and went to an outdoor play. The hot springs are a 10-minute walk to the west along the Payette River. They are not developed beyond what visitors can muster by stacking rocks and damming up the falling hot water. The resulting pools are about a foot deep and can hold three or four people. They were quite warm and enjoyable.

On July 13th, we headed down the canyon to raft down the Payette River, “The Main,” with Idaho White Water Unlimited guide services. This stretch of the Payette has class 2 and class 3 rapids. The price was reasonable, the guide, Justin, was fantastic, and the water was very refreshing. The experience made all three of us want to try the segment of the river just upstream from where we rafted that includes some class 4 rapids. I guess we’ll give that a try next time.

After rafting, we headed back up the canyon, changed our clothes, checked on our dog, had a quick dinner, and headed back down the canyon to an outdoor play. We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Starlight Mountain Theatre. The play isn’t my favorite, but the lead actors did a phenomenal job. It was a pleasant and rustic cultural experience to end our long, but enjoyable day.

On July 14th, we arose very early, walked down to the hot springs, and enjoyed a relaxing soak. I returned to the trailer to acquire a camera, but in doing so slipped on the rocks near the hot springs and seriously injured my ankle. I still made the 10-minute walk, fetched the camera, and captured a few memories before recognizing the severity of my wounds. We returned to the trailer, dressed my wounds, dressed for church, drove down the canyon, and joined the saints in the Garden Valley congregation. Afterward, we returned to our trailer and prepared it for departure and the next leg of our adventure.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	117	449	12861

3 States, 31 Nights, and 2131 Miles

On July 11th, 2019 our family of three hitched up our trailer and took off on our “July” adventure. We traveled to 3 states, camped for 31 nights, and put 2131 miles of road behind us. My wife, our 13-year-old son, and I thought it was great.

We began our trip with the idea of reaching the Washington coast and traveling down through Washington and Oregon before returning home to Utah. However, while traveling, we changed our plans, traveled less each day, and enjoyed a few things closer to home.

We traveled through Idaho, Montana, and Utah. We learned a few things along the way:

Southwest Idaho is much like Utah in terms of weather. In July it is hot and intolerable without air conditioning. Before heading north to a cooler climate, we broke out both generators to run the AC unit and cool the trailer.
Campgrounds in Idaho and Montana were, in general, far better than those in Utah. In Idaho and Montana, the campgrounds were generally less expensive. In a few cases where they were the same price as those in Utah, the facilities were far superior. Where Utah campgrounds lack water but ask you to put out your fire, Idaho and Montana campgrounds not only had water but provided a bucket at the faucet to borrow.
On this journey we traveled back and forth between Idaho and Montana several times. Each time we entered Idaho we were required to have our kayaks inspected for plants, animals, and water. We were asked where we last put them in the water and where we were headed. This became a sort of a joke. At one stop an older man, certainly not a gentleman, approached me on the passenger side of the vehicle. He barked through the window, “we are in Idaho where men drive.” Really, what year is it in Idaho?
This spring we upgraded our solar capacity from a single 150 Watt panel to three 200 Watt panels and a new solar charge controller. On this trip, we routinely generated a kilowatt of power per day, eliminating the need to use a generator unless we needed the AC.

Our adventure was amazing and most importantly relaxing. We participated in fun activities, beautiful scenery, interesting history, and just plain old fun. The next several posts will describe each of the places we camped at and summarize the things we saw and did. While this adventure had to end, it just means the next one is a few days closer.

Riverside Campground, Idaho

On June 12, 2019 we returned, yet again, to the Riverside Campground in Island Park, Idaho. For this visit we reserved site A-21. We have thought for sometime that this is the best site in the campground, and we were excited to test our hypothesis. We stayed four nights. Due to vacation and work, we already have two more reservations this year for this campground. However, we were unable to secure site A-21; it is well sought after.

On the 13th I had business in Rexburg, Idaho. My wife drove me to work, enjoyed Rexburg for the morning, purchased our groceries, and then we returned to the campground around 3pm. When we arrived at the campground, we met our friends and spent the weekend together. On Saturday we drove to Big Springs and enjoyed the crystal clear water and gazing at the giant trout. We enjoyed the rest of the weekend relaxing, talking to our friends, and returned home on Sunday.

Site A-21 was amazing! Our trailer fit easily, we had peace and quiet, and the view was splendid. the view to the east was of the mighty Henry’s Fork River and the view to the west was a beautiful dense forrest.

In August and September, we will be staying in site A-2. We think this site is second best to site A-21 and we’ll soon see.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
4	114	634	12412

Riverside Campground, Idaho

On September 6, 2018 we returned to the Riverside Campground in Island Park, Idaho. For this visit we had reserved site B-9, but when we arrived, about dusk, other campers had completely set up their camp and we weren’t willing to uproot them. After talking with the camp host, we quickly settled on site B-14, changed the reservation sign, and moved in. We stayed three nights.

On the 7th I had business in Rexburg, Idaho. My wife and son drove me to work, enjoyed Rexburg for the morning, and then we all returned to the campground around 3pm. On Saturday we drove a few dirt roads looking for boondocking sites for future visits. We found quite a few nice spots in an area marked by Google as Free Use Canyon Number 1. We enjoyed the rest of the weekend relaxing and returned home on Sunday.

Site B-14 was great. We enjoyed the tree cover on both sides of the trailer. There was a nice bunch of trees between the trailer and the campground road which made the site quite private. Our son’s tent spot was close to the trailer, but still felt nicely tucked away in the woods.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	94	636	10110

Riverside Campground, Idaho

On July 21, 2018 we returned to the Riverside Campground in Island Park, Idaho. This is the campground we visited just last month. For this visit my wife and I were alone and chose to stay in site A-5, but had to stay in B-11 for the first evening. Both are pull-through sites, but A-5 is right next to the Henry’s Fork River; it’s a beautiful site. We stayed here for eight nights and returned home July 29, 2018.

This trip was pure vacation with lots of fishing. In fact, we fished every day except Sundays when we attended Church. We fished the Henry’s Fork below the campground, just above the campground, and in Box Canyon.We also enjoyed a day on the Eagle Ridge Ranch fishing their small lake. We’ve had great luck on the lake in October, but the fishing in July was rather slow.

Best Sites

For our best site selection for this campground, see our previous post about Riverside Campground. In short, site 21 is the best and never available.

We keep coming back to this campground because it is spacious, quiet, well maintained, has water, and easy access to the river. It’s a great place. We have driven through every other campground between Riverside and Island Park and are happy returning here.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
8	90	634	8958

Riverside Campground, Idaho

On June 13, 2018 we returned to the Riverside Campground in Island Park, Idaho. This is the campground we first visited after acquiring our trailer in 2016. For this visit my wife, son, and I chose to stay in site A-5. It is a pull-through site right next to the Henry’s Fork River; it’s a beautiful site. We stayed here for four nights and returned home June 17, 2018.

Riverside has three loops, A, B, and C. As far as I can tell the A and B loops are paved while the C loop is packed gravel. Many of the sites are away from the river, but all sites are fairly spacious and a reasonable distance from neighboring sites. The sites along the Henry’s Fork River are gorgeous and the fishing is reported to be great. However, on this visit I forgot to pack our fishing waders so we’ve played a lot of board games and found other things to do. We finally fished from the bank for about an hour and caught two small fish. Waders and more time would make this stretch of river a lot of fun.

Best Sites

Our favorite sites in this campground are A-20 and A-21. A-21 is at the far end of the campground, is very close to the river, and has great views. Riverside also has a group site that looks fun for family gatherings. The parking area is large enough for three or four RVs and there are numerous tables and fire pits. With some care I am sure you could circle the wagons and have a great time as a group.

The island park area is one of our favorites. The air is cool, the fishing is amazing, the rivers are huge, the campgrounds are spacious and the area is not nearly as busy as most Utah mountain camping areas. W hope to come back here year after year, and work at BYU-Idaho nearly guarantees we will.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
4	66	634	8114

Total Solar Eclipse, Idaho

On August 20, 2017 we headed north to Victor, Idaho to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse the following day. Victor is in northeast Idaho and very close to the center line of the eclipse path. We were hoping for a great show.

To avoid expected traffic on I-15, we drove up through Evanston, Wyoming, through Star Valley, Wyoming and then west into Idaho. Early in the afternoon we drove through Afton, Idaho and caught a glimpse of the Star Valley Wyoming Temple owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was quite beautiful set up on a small hill with the green grass, mountains, and blue sky in the background.

We continued north until we arrived at the farm belonging to our friend’s father. They have a beautiful spread of about 130 acres with a 4-5 acre parcel containing homes, cabins and barns. To our great surprise they also had full RV hookups and were kind enough to allow us to use them. We pulled in, leveled up, left the truck and trailer connected and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting to know an entire family of new friends. It was great to get to know new people and learn a bit of their history including the homesteading of this property. It was a beautiful spot with plenty of clear sky to enjoy the eclipse.

The next morning we built pin hole projection systems and watched the moon creep across the face of the sun. We also brought glasses that made it safe to view the partial eclipse. I mentioned that barns are often great pin hole projection systems because they’re reasonably dark with plenty of small holes for the sun’s rays to come through. The entire group entered the barn and found a stunning array of great partial solar eclipse images.

The time we were all waiting for finally came. The shadow of the moon crept quickly across the farmland and then totality began. It was amazing listening to the voices of young and old as they grasped for words to express their emotions. The frogs had come out and were croaking loudly, the birds had all roosted, people were grabbing jackets to cope with the 15 degree drop in temperature and everyone was running around trying to do everything they wanted to experience in the limited time.

I quickly setup my Canon 5D Mark III with a 200mm f4 Canon lens and shot several pictures at each of many settings. I share a few of the best here. The first was shot at ISO 200, f8 for 1/250 second. At the 1 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions on the disk you can see small red flares. I first thought these were chromatic aberration or other camera artifacts, but I later looked at images taken from other locations that contained the same features. I assume they are solar flares.

Unfortunately these images are quite low resolution because of the necessary cropping to make them large enough to enjoy. If I were to do this again, I hope I get the chance, I would use at least a 400mm lens to enhance the results.

The second image I share was shot at ISO 200, f8 for 1/100 of a second. The result is a much brighter view of the corona. In this photo the flares are still there, but they are much harder to distinguish because of the brighter corona.

The final image I share was taken just as the sun revealed itself at the end of totality. This diamond ring effect is stunning, but made even more so by the minutes of darkness preceding it. This was a very pleasing sight that won the cheers of those around. This shot was taken at ISO 200, f8 for 1/50 of a second. It is my favorite shot of the three.

It was quite amazing how quickly it got bright after totality ended. It doesn’t take much of the sun’s surface to light the earth. The frogs went quiet, the birds awoke and everyone was very quiet trying to grasp what was experienced. It was absolutely amazing!

We packed up, said our goodbyes, promised to send prints and left for home. Little did we know that the four hour drive up would take ten hours to repeat going south. The traffic was horrendous from Victor, Idaho to Alpine Junction, Wyoming. I think the police officers in that little town had no idea what hit them and had no clue how to deal with the huge number of vehicles traveling through their little town. Once we got through Alpine Junction we travelled at 60 mph the rest of the way home. Four hours up, ten hours back and I would do it again for what we experienced. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. My son will remember that day and will get his sons to the Great American Eclipse of 2045 in Utah.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	50	628	5992

Pole Bridge Campground, Idaho

On June 29, 2017 we arrived at Pole Bridge Campground in Southeast Idaho on the banks of the upper portion of the Warm River. This was our first stop on our one month excursion. We were here until July 2nd when we left to meet family in the Uinta Mountains of Utah, more on that later.

We approached the campground from the south on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway turning right on Forest Service Road FS 150. However, continuing north on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway and then heading east on FS 315 and then south on FS 150 yields a smoother ride on wider roads.

The campground is primitive, but each site includes a table and fire pit. The sites are well separated, easy to get into and the price is right, free! The campsite we chose was at the southern most area of the campground as indicated by the blue pin on the satellite view. This view includes the entire campground, shows FS 150 and the Warm River which is quite small this far north.

Our site was gorgeous and sat right on the banks of the Warm River. As small as the Warm River is we did catch some small fish and had fun in the river. The Warm River gets much larger where Warm Springs dumps into it further south. Warm Springs is worth visiting and is only a 20 minute drive from the campground. Upper and Lower Mesa Falls are also nice to see and are also about a 20 minute drive from the campground.

For those who love fly fishing, the Island Park area, to the northwest of the campground, has much to offer. A few examples include the Henry’s Fork, South Fork, Harriman State Park, Henry’s Lake, and the Maddison River. We’ve been out with guides in the area a couple of times and have really enjoyed the services provided by Henry’s Fork Anglers.

While in this part of the country we decided to visit a part of Yellowstone National Park we hadn’t visited before, Cave Falls. We had never visited this part of the park because the road simply takes you to the falls and a trailhead; you cannot get to other parts of the park in a vehicle via this entrance. The river was impressive and the falls were beautiful. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the falls from the campground with little but scenery to see on the way. It is a nice drive, worth seeing, but literally isn’t on the way to anything.

Pole Bridge Campground was a great starting point for our adventure. There is much to see and do in the area and the campground is relaxed, uncrowded and quiet. We’ll certainly camp here again!

On July 2nd we headed south to our next stop in the Uinta Mountains of Utah. On our way we discovered a Flying J truck stop that had a fuel isle with diesel, a dump station, potable water, and even propane. We took care of the trailer and continued south to Washington Lake Campground.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	21	331	2767

5 States, 31 Nights, and 4200 Miles

On June 29th, 2017 our family of three hitched up our trailer and took off on an adventure. We travelled to 5 states, camped for 31 nights and put 4200 miles of road behind us. My wife and I thought it was great and our 11 year old son thought it was “good”. However, I view a “good” rating from him as a positive sign. It means he liked many of our activities and likes us, both good things!

We travelled to Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. We learned a few things along the way:

We’re glad we didn’t select a trailer larger than the one we did, 27′. Small trailers have fewer campground limitations, they’re easier to pull up steep mountain passes with tight switchbacks, and into and out of tight gas stations. When we buy another trailer, we’ll purchase the smallest one we can be comfortable in.
We love having a solar panel on our trailer and are now glad we purchased only one. When the sun is out, the one panel fully recharges the batteries by early afternoon. For fall or winter camping another panel would be nice, but the cost of a second panel is equivalent to the cost of a generator, which is mandatory even in the summer when you might experience multiple days of cloud cover. One solar panel means you’ll seldom need the generator, but when you do you have one.
While camping in a trailer you have several scarce resources: electricity, propane, fresh water, and limited holding tank capacity. With a solar panel and backup generator electricity is not very scarce. In the summer propane seems to last forever. Our trailer has two 30 pound tanks that hold 7 gallons of propane each. In 31 days of camping we went through both bottles. We have an 80 gallon fresh water tank and it lasts three of us nearly a week. Our experience has been that the gray water holding tank is the most limited resource. Nearly all of the fresh water we use goes straight down the sink and shower drains and fills this 40 gallon tank in 4 or 5 days. We could of course be more conservative, but …
We chose to purchase two 2kW Honda generators that can be connected in parallel to generate enough power to run everything in the trailer, including the air conditioner. One of these generators is sufficient to run everything but the AC and we never used both on our adventure. We did connect one of them periodically to watch a movie or play a video game on the large TV. The generator was quiet enough that we locked it to the front of the trailer and it never bothered us inside. While we chose the Honda, I later found that Costco offers a very similar Yamaha generator for half the price; I should have looked!
We’re glad we chose a trailer over a 5th wheel because I really utilized the bed of our truck for extra water, fuel for the generators, firewood, etc. I’m sure we would have loved a 5th wheel, but any fear we had about towing a trailer has dissipated.

When we left we had some trepidation about traveling in New Mexico and Arizona in July. However, both states have significant mountains and associated national forests. We stayed above 5000′ in elevation nearly all of the time and enjoyed reasonable temperatures, seldom if ever exceeding 80 degrees. The one exception was our three day stay in Carlsbad, New Mexico. While there we chose to stay at the Carlsbad RV Park and Campground, and while this isn’t our idea of camping, the facilities were clean, the staff was friendly and helpful, the pool was simple and refreshing, and most importantly we had electric hookups that allowed us to run the AC nearly 24 hours a day.

Our adventure was amazingly fun and relaxing. As we headed home on the last day we passed the I-70 East ramp and I just wanted to take it and continue our summer fun. The next few posts will describe each of the places we camped and the fun things we found to do there.

Island Park, Idaho

Some friends of ours invited us to their cabin for the Labor Day weekend, September 2 through September 5, 2016. We parked our trailer on their property on Huckleberry Lane in Island Park, Idaho. They had sewer, water, a 15 Amp electric hookup, and a small fire pit.

As unsocial as we are, we enjoyed being with our son’s friend’s parents and their extended family. We met parents, siblings, and their children. It was fun to talk and get to know them.

While there we had a guide take us to Sheridan Ranch Reservoir and the Sheridan Stream. We had fun learning how to fly fish this stream and lake. We caught a few fish and had fun.

When we returned home. we left without our trailer. We planned to return the very next week and spend some more time in this beautiful area. We returned with one of our married sons and his wife and stayed from September 8 through September 11, 2016. We visited Yellowstone National Park and enjoyed it very much.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	7	648	1284