Camping website’s road trip guide highlights 3 Idaho campsites. Which made the list?
Itching to hit the road and sleep under the stars this summer? If you’re open to suggestions, camping reservation website The Dyrt recently published a list of U.S. road trip routes, three of which pass through Idaho.
The website, which helps people find and book camping spots, crafted seven road trip guides that feature campsite recommendations, sightseeing tips and other notes. Three Idaho campsites made it into the guides, along with an Oregon site that looks over the Snake River into Idaho.
“There are so many iconic road trips to be taken and amazing camping properties in this vast country of ours,” Kevin Long, CEO of The Dyrt, said in a news release. “We wanted to combine these two delicious slices of Americana — the best camping stays while traversing the renowned roads of the U.S.”
Oregon Trail Road Trip
One route — the Oregon Trail Road Trip from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon — traverses all of southern Idaho and features two state park campsites as well as Gem State sightseeing suggestions. Travelers can follow the route that took as many as half a million emigrants west in the mid-1800s.
The Dyrt recommends allotting two to three weeks for the trek, which starts in the original and most popular origin city for the historic trail. Travelers will follow the route through Nebraska and Wyoming before reaching Idaho via U.S. 30.
Once in Idaho, The Dyrt recommends visiting the National Oregon/California Trail Center in the small town of Montpelier. Thirty miles down the highway, you’ll find another recommended stop that will likely be familiar to anyone who played the iconic Oregon Trail computer game: Soda Springs, a geyser of natural carbonated water which emigrants used to create naturally flavored sodas, bake bread, create medicine, bathe and more.
Following the road trip route will take you to Interstates 15 and 86 as you begin to cross the Snake River Plain. The Dyrt’s first suggested Idaho campground is about 35 miles past Pocatello at Massacre Rocks State Park. The website notes that the park has its own trove of Oregon Trail history, like Register Rock, a popular spot for emigrants to etch their names in stone. Idaho State Parks and Recreation’s website says the park’s morbid namesake is “an emigrant wagon party skirmish.”
The park has three campgrounds with sites for RV and tent camping, as well as cabins for rent.
The Oregon Trail Road Trip continues across southern Idaho along Interstate 84 with a recommended stop at Shoshone Falls and The Dyrt’s second Idaho campground recommendation: Three Island Crossing State Park near Glenns Ferry.
According to Idaho State Parks and Recreation’s website, the Snake River crossing was known as the most difficult in Idaho but provided a key opportunity for emigrants to cross from the difficult terrain of the south bank to the north side of the river. Today, campers can stay in tents, RVs or cabins right along the north riverbank and visit the on-site Oregon Trail History and Education Center.
Continue heading west for “a city respite in Boise,” as The Dyrt suggests, before crossing into Oregon. The camping website recommends staying at Farewell Bend State Recreation Area just over the state line where the campground looks over the Snake River into Idaho. If you’d rather stay in the Gem State, you could camp at the Bureau of Land Management’s Weiser Dunes campground, but the detour will add about an hour drive each way.
TransAmerica Trail Road Trip
The Dyrt’s other Idaho campground recommendation comes from its TransAmerica Trail Road Trip, which stretches from coast to coast. The website recommends taking four to six weeks to travel from Port Orford, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia.
The recommended route takes travelers across Oregon and into Idaho where The Dyrt recommends refueling in Emmett before heading toward U.S. 12 in North Idaho via Idaho 55 and U.S. 95.
The third recommended Idaho campsite is Wilderness Gateway campground in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest near Kooskia. The campground features numerous sites along the Lochsa River.
“Expect spacious sites among cedar and fir trees, access to hiking trails, and the soothing sound of the river — a great spot to unplug (no cell service here!),” The Dyrt’s road trip guide says.
The camping website notes that its route will have travelers following the Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa rivers, both designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, on the way to Lolo Pass between Montana and Idaho.
The road trip heads to Missoula, Montana, before turning south toward Yellowstone National Park and east across Wyoming. Travelers will traverse Kansas, pass through the Ozarks in Missouri and into Illinois then veer south again into Kentucky. The final leg of the trek is in the Appalachian Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Other road trip routes
One other road trip passes through Idaho: the Great Northern Road Trip. This route from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Seattle follows the northern border of the United States, which includes a short trek through the Idaho Panhandle.
While The Dyrt doesn’t recommend any campsites on this trip, it does suggest travelers stop in Sandpoint or check out Farragut State Park on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille or Round Lake State Park near Sagle if time allows.
The camping website’s other recommend road trips are the Atlantic Coast Highway, from Cape May, New Jersey, to Key West, Florida; the Loneliest Road, from Annapolis, Maryland, to West Sacramento, California; the Pacific Coast Highway from Port Angeles, Washington, to San Diego; and Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica.
