Category Archives: Things to Do

Outdoor Vehicles and Accessories, Things to Do

Trip to the North Fork of the Clearwater – Idaho

Sometimes it’s nice to get away. Especially to a spot where you cannot see or hear other campers. We recently got away into the wilderness of Idaho. Here are some of the things I liked and learned along the way.

Camping Near the North Fork of the Clearwater River, near Dvorshak Reservior

My wife and I recently packed up the truck and went camping. I picked out a spot that looked “far enough” away but not too far. About 47 miles East of our home is the spot we picked. It’s the North fork of the Clearwater River, up toward the North end of the Dworshak Reservoir. It was spectacular.

We set out from Clarkia Idaho, heading East. We went past Freezeout Ridge, and took Forest Service Road 301 for quite a ways. My first observation is that this area around Freezeout is stunningly beautiful. This is definitely an area we’ll have to get back to. We were high enough to get excellent views all around, We’ll have to come back.

We followed to Indian Dip Road, turning South. This road was quite rough. My second lessons: even with the excellent Ram 2500 suspension, the suspension is still too stiff for the rocks and… aptly named “dips” on the road. At times we had to crawl at under 5mph.

Once we were in the Dworshak drainage, the roads started getting better. We had hoped to find a spot near the rivers at the northwest side of Dworshak, but the only spots were take. It appeared that some of the spots had been occupied for months. And it appears that most of the areas where someone would turn off the road and go along the river to camp are blocked off, making camping out of the truck more difficult. Next lesson: don’t arrive at 6pm and hope to find a spot quickly.

Having previously scouted via Gaia GPS maps for other spots to stay, we ended up 4-wheeling along some logging trails. These trails were quite rough, and got rougher the closer to the water we got. Our maps showed us that there was some potential camping up ahead, but as we got closer, the trail was blocked. Another dead end.

We did end up going to another spot along the North Fork of the Clearwater River. It was stunningly beautiful, quiet (except for the rushing river) and empty. We took it, leveling the truck off in its spot with some rocks.

The truck is set up with a cap height topper. I put in a Decked system for storage, and to make for a sleeping platform. The storage is great, with a huge amount of room for camping items underneath. We had chairs, two stoves, cooking wares, a canopy, camp toilet, recovery equipment, and other items in the Decked. On top we had a bedroll with a memory foam pad and some packing blankets. Our sleeping bag is a double. It laid out wonderfully.

After enjoying our campfire, we retired to the truck. While everything looked good on paper, we soon found that getting in and out of the truck was a pain. First, the truck is high. next, the tailgate had to be down to get in/out easily. With the loud river rushing nearby, we couldn’t hear anything, so I felt like closing off the back of the truck topper. Unfortunately, that made it too stuffy inside, even with the side windows open. We didn’t sleep overly well that night, even though we were out in the forest in God’s beauty.

We spent the next morning relaxing a bit, having eggs and bacon, and walked along the river a ways. It was enjoyable to see God’s beauty. We soon got restless, broke camp (was super easy given everything was already in the truck), and explored the area more before heading home. It was a wonderful trip overall, and one that we’ll have memories of for years to come.

My summary of what went well and what didn’t:

  • Great
    • Awesome beauty everywhere we looked
    • Truck performed flawlessly
    • The Cummins huge tank and good mileage got us in and out (with many hours of driving) with half a tank left
    • The decked system provides a huge amount of storage
    • The bed was warm and comfortable
    • The 12v fridge kept everything nice and cold
  • Not so great
    • Getting in and out of the back of the truck at night was not comfortable
    • The truck’s suspension is a bit too stiff for the really rough stuff
    • We felt lucky to find a good spot to camp

For next time, we’ll probably find a pop up camper (think 4-Wheel Campers) or a trailer. I just prefer a bit more comfort when I’m out enjoying God’s wonderful creation. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing!

Outdoor Vehicles and Accessories, Things to Do

COVID-19 Spring Trip: Fishhook Creek

Life in Idaho is pretty good. With our low population and extensive outdoor spaces, it’s possible to get outdoors and do things without encountering many people. Thus, we can maintain “social distancing” while also enjoying a rich life.

After virtual church this last Sunday, we decided to go on a trip. We got out to Avery Idaho, with the intent of seeing how far we could get on the Avery-Wallace road. It turns out that we cannot get very far. The road was closed right at Avery after the trash cans. It is only March 22; I expected that we might not get very far, but I expected to at least be able to go up some into the mountains.

Not deterred, we then looked for other areas to explore. We switched over to driving the South side of the St. Joe west from Avery, stopping for some lunch where Fishook Creek meets the St. Joe.

Delfina enjoyed her time during our stop at the St. Joe.

From there, we decided to heat up Fishhook Creek Road. Winding south up from the St. Joe river. Being this early in the season, the road is mostly snow & ice pack. It was plowed, but has many sheet ice or soft sections. I could see tire tracks where people would put one or two wheels in the ditch then have to get themselves out. The Ram is quite heavy, so I was mindful to keep it on solid ground as best I could, and out of the soft shoulders.

A couple miles up, we spotted a icicle wall. Snow melt coming down a rock wall formed icicles all the way to the road. It was impressive.

Icicles form on this north facing rock wall.

It was only standing under the ice that we could get a feel for the scale.

Ice cascades off the rock to create a sculpture. God creates masterpieces all around us!

We then crossed a couple bridges continuing to climb. The scenery is spectacular, including one section where a tunnel was built.

Tunnel has a stray icicle hanging off to the right.

Coming out of the tunnel, looking West, you could see why the road builders decided to build a tunnel rather than following the river. The creek had nearly carved a tunnel of its own in the surrounding rock.

Rock walls are a feature of Fishhook creek.

From there, we were able to follow the river up until a junction of Lick Creek Road. From there, the Fishhook Creek Road was no longer plowed. We could continue on Lick Creek, but decided to turn around before getting too far into the wilderness.

Things to Do

Biggest Cedar Tree East of the Cascade Range?

On a cold December Sunday, we decided to go see it.  Yep, we were finally going to see the giant cedar in Idaho.  If you never knew there was such a thing, then read on…

Apparently, there is a cedar grove with a Giant Western Red Cedar not a terribly long drive from our house.  Not sure what to expect, we loaded up the 4runner with self recovery gear and some extra food and headed out for the adventure of it.

We headed to the town of Elk River, then turned North.  The roads weren’t bad because winter has been mild.  We followed the maps using a pin I had dropped on Maps.me at 46.888958, -116.12997 for the turnoff from Forest Service 382 Road.  It turns out that the roads were fairly well marked, but I was happy to have the GPS anyway.

As we climbed, the scenery became more beautiful, and the snow and ice started to get thicker.  The stream we followed was a living ice sculpture, and the trees were laden with snow — straight out of a Christmas movie.

We found our cutoff, and followed the road.  It brought us right to the trailhead, which I had marked at 46.886949, -116.12156.  Given the late hour (about 3pm on a winter Sunday), it was not surprising that we were the only ones there.

We walked down the snowy path, one part of which was covered by a large tree that had fallen into another, and both were suspended above us as an eerie lumber guillotine.  It was amazing that both were still suspended in an X fifty feet above our heads.  A little further and found the cedar grove.  According to the sign by the tree, this giant is over 18 feet in diameter at chest height, and it is estimated to be more then 3000 years old.  It was alive when Christ walked the earth!  Standing beside and underneath it, we found it difficult to appreciate the full size.  It’s huge.

Says this tree is estimated to be over 3,000 years old.

There are other trees nearby.  And when we stopped and listened, we heard… nothing.  It was beautifully silent.

The walk wasn’t long, and there wasn’t a lot to be done other than admire the beauty of God’s creation.  But this was definitely a worthwhile trip.

We headed back to the truck, and headed out.  As the sun turned the sky shades of pink and purple, the snow crystals blinked unique patterns of Christmas lights back at our headlights.  It was a beautiful trip, made all the more fun and unique by the blanket of snow.

Pink sunset and crystal sparkles welcome us on our drive home.

The 4runner with the Toyo Observe GSi-5 studless snows had no problems on the roads.  Thankfully, we didn’t have to use any of the recovery gear we had brought.  This trip was easy… just watch the scenery and serenity of the mountains near Elk River.