Free camping in Idaho

Idaho is really two places with one name. The north is forest. Tall timber, steep hillsides, and a river at the bottom of almost every valley. The Nez Perce-Clearwater, the Payette and the Salmon-Challis cover most of it. Drive south and the trees stop. What follows is open desert: sagebrush, low cliffs of dark rock, and the wide flat light of the Owyhee country. The two halves feel nothing like each other. Decide which one you want before you set off.

This is the emptiest state on the site. From most campsites here it is an hour or more of driving to reach a town with fuel and a shop. Some are a great deal further. That matters the day you get a flat tire. It is also why the night sky is so good. There are no towns close enough to spoil it. Many of these places sit above 5,000 feet, and a few are near 10,000. Snow closes those roads until late spring, so the season is shorter than you might expect.

Bring everything you need. Almost none of the Idaho sites has drinking water, and none of the ones we can check has a toilet. Carry your water in, and carry everything else out. People come here to walk, to watch animals and to fish. Plenty of the sites sit on water big enough for a boat.