Looking for ideas -- 8 or 9 days from Salt Lake City

[FirstTracks]

Originally Posted by idnative1948

Check out Stanley Lake, Red Fish Lake, Little Red Fish Lake. Anything out this way, I will try to help you where I can.

Funny that you mentioned those spots, for I planned/booked my trip last night with those stops included before I saw your post. My planned itinerary is as follows:

https://binged.it/2qTiaGr

Day 1: Drive ~310 miles to Sun Valley, dispersed camp on USFS somewhere north of town after filling up with water at R. McKercher City Park in Hailey (I was thinking of somewhere along the Big Wood River North Fork -- I see a bunch of great spots on Google Earth. If you have recommendations, though, I'm all ears, especially as this will be a Saturday night.) As an avid skier at heart, we'll enjoy strolling around town in the evening.

Day 2: Re-water at R. McKercher City Park in Hailey and dump what I can, then drive 67 miles to Craters of the Moon National Monument Lava Flow Campground. The landscape just looks too cool to pass up. Those sites are non-reservable, but I think that I'll be OK as it's a Sunday night. In case it's full, the backup plan is a little swath of BLM land just off the road between the Monument and Arco, or (ugh!) one of the RV parks in Arco as a last "resort" ;-) where we'll be packed in like sardines. Honestly, they look awful to me.

Day 3: Drive 109 miles to Deadman Hole BLM recreation area along the Salmon River near Challis/Bayhorse after getting water and dumping at Land of the Yankee Fork Interpretive Center in Challis. Although it's non-reservable, Deadman Hole is relatively new and apparently somewhat unknown as it's difficult to find much online about it, so I think that we'll be OK on a Monday night; otherwise there are other BLM sites in the area so we'll surely find something. We'll check out the mining ruins in the area, probably with some four-wheeling into the hills to explore them.

Day 4: Another 52 miles to Glacier View Campground at Redfish Lake for our first reserved site. (dang, there was *ONE* site available in all of the USFS campgrounds near the lake, and that's on a Tuesday night!). No hookups at Glacier View. The campground website says that they have drinking water available, but they're not clear that you can fill your tank with it. I also see that the Redfish Lake Dump Station has water, but it's not clear that it's potable. Do you know? If all else fails there's the nearby Sawtooth Ranger Station / Stanley Ranger Station for fresh water and dumping, which we'll need for Day 5.

Day 5: Drive 75 miles to Pine Flat campground between Lowman and Garden City -- we have a reservation and this one comes with its own hot spring. ;-) No hookups.

Day 6: Back on the road for 91 miles to Peninsula State Park in McCall. Again, strolling McCall will be nice, and the location looks very attractive. The pups will recreate in Payette Lake. Partial hookups and reserved.

Day 7: 171 miles to drive to Bruneau Dunes (it will probably be a hot night in that area, at that elevation in mid-July, but we'll have electrical hookups for the a/c). Again, an intriguing landscape and it's just off our route back to Salt Lake City, just south of Mountain Home. I reserved a pull-through site, so getting back on the road for day 8 should be relatively quick if I don't unhook.

Day 8: Drive 308 miles home to SLC.

Thoughts? Advice welcome.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Let me just hook you up with a link from another Forum - thin you and 4runnerguy have very similar interests - RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Search He is the resident expert for Colorado and where and what to see and do.

Appreciate that. I'll have another 8 or 9-day trip in early September, and SW CO would be perfect for that. I have another one in early October, but for that I'll head to SE UT/northern AZ.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

This would be my Route as a loop - picking a spot or two to stay.

https://binged.it/2qSR9mC

Couple side trips would be Dunton and the National Forest around LizardHead Pass - Marble and Crystal Mill - Silverton and Alpine Loop.

JMHO,

Yup, that map link is going into the September folder. Thanks again!

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by FirstTracks

Funny that you mentioned those spots, for I planned/booked my trip last night with those stops included before I saw your post. My planned itinerary is as follows:

https://binged.it/2qTiaGr

Day 1: Drive ~310 miles to Sun Valley, dispersed camp on USFS somewhere north of town after filling up with water at R. McKercher City Park in Hailey (I was thinking of somewhere along the Big Wood River North Fork -- I see a bunch of great spots on Google Earth. If you have recommendations, though, I'm all ears, especially as this will be a Saturday night.) As an avid skier at heart, we'll enjoy strolling around town in the evening.

Day 2: Re-water at R. McKercher City Park in Hailey and dump what I can, then drive 67 miles to Craters of the Moon National Monument Lava Flow Campground. The landscape just looks too cool to pass up. Those sites are non-reservable, but I think that I'll be OK as it's a Sunday night. In case it's full, the backup plan is a little swath of BLM land just off the road between the Monument and Arco, or (ugh!) one of the RV parks in Arco as a last "resort" ;-) where we'll be packed in like sardines. Honestly, they look awful to me.

Day 3: Drive 109 miles to Deadman Hole BLM recreation area along the Salmon River near Challis/Bayhorse after getting water and dumping at Land of the Yankee Fork Interpretive Center in Challis. Although it's non-reservable, Deadman Hole is relatively new and apparently somewhat unknown as it's difficult to find much online about it, so I think that we'll be OK on a Monday night; otherwise there are other BLM sites in the area so we'll surely find something. We'll check out the mining ruins in the area, probably with some four-wheeling into the hills to explore them.

Day 4: Another 52 miles to Glacier View Campground at Redfish Lake for our first reserved site. (dang, there was *ONE* site available in all of the USFS campgrounds near the lake, and that's on a Tuesday night!). No hookups at Glacier View. The campground website says that they have drinking water available, but they're not clear that you can fill your tank with it. I also see that the Redfish Lake Dump Station has water, but it's not clear that it's potable. Do you know? If all else fails there's the nearby Sawtooth Ranger Station / Stanley Ranger Station for fresh water and dumping, which we'll need for Day 5.

Day 5: Drive 75 miles to Pine Flat campground between Lowman and Garden City -- we have a reservation and this one comes with its own hot spring. ;-) No hookups.

Day 6: Back on the road for 91 miles to Peninsula State Park in McCall. Again, strolling McCall will be nice, and the location looks very attractive. The pups will recreate in Payette Lake. Partial hookups and reserved.

Day 7: 171 miles to drive to Bruneau Dunes (it will probably be a hot night in that area, at that elevation in mid-July, but we'll have electrical hookups for the a/c). Again, an intriguing landscape and it's just off our route back to Salt Lake City, just south of Mountain Home. I reserved a pull-through site, so getting back on the road for day 8 should be relatively quick if I don't unhook.

Day 8: Drive 308 miles home to SLC.

Thoughts? Advice welcome.



Appreciate that. I'll have another 8 or 9-day trip in early September, and SW CO would be perfect for that. I have another one in early October, but for that I'll head to SE UT/northern AZ.



Yup, that map link is going into the September folder. Thanks again!

Late September - https://lynn.smugmug.com/Travel/Colo...pens/i-tsVRkXg just hard to be the San Juan's.