About this place
Congress created the Nez Perce National Historic Trail in 1986.
It runs from Wallowa Lake in Oregon, across Idaho, to the Bear Paw National Historic Trail at Chinook, Montana.
That is about 1,170 miles, through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. On the way it passes the Big Hole National Battlefield.
Before Lewis and Clark, and after them, the Nez Perce homeland covered central Idaho, northeast Oregon and southeast Washington.
They hunted here, fished, collected camas and biscuitroot, and raised their children on knowledge built up over thousands of years.
Then fur trappers, traders, settlers, soldiers, missionaries and farmers moved in and through. The Nez Perce and their land changed a great deal.
Tension grew.
Wanting to avoid a fight, the Nez Perce signed a treaty creating a large reservation over their traditional homeland.
Gold was found inside that reservation in 1863. Miners and settlers moved in, and a new treaty cut the reservation by 90 percent.
Some tribal leaders said no.
In May of 1877 the government ordered the non-treaty Nez Perce onto the smaller reservation by June 14.
Violence broke out. Chief Joseph and other leaders, Toohoolhoolzote among them, decided to run for Canada instead.
That year 750 Nez Perce set off with 2,000 of their own horses. Two-thirds of them were women, children, the elderly and the sick.
They fought and evaded more than 2,000 Army soldiers and other pursuers, over 1,100 miles.
They surrendered at last at Bear Paw, Montana, just short of the Canadian border.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Maps of the route are on the trail’s own website.
Coordinates 45.99888889, -116.6475
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Snowhole Rapids Wilderness Study Area Directions
- Nez Perce National Historical Park Directions
- Lewis and Clark Back Country Byway Directions
- Tolo Lake Directions
- Dworshak Dam Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Cottonwood, ID Directions
- Grangeville, ID Directions
Grangeville is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
Three in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Lewis and Clark Back Country Byway, Idaho — 34 miles in a straight line, but at least a 52 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.