Jackie and Steve's 2026 Southwest Roadtrip

[Jackiemac]

So where are you today? On the gas thread you said Magruder yesterday.
Last year we went down 93 along the Snake River, a very nice drive.
Stayed at Elk Bend RV park. There's a hot springs pretty close but weather wasn't great so we missed it.

We are camped at Pink House Recreation Area next to the Clearwater River by Orofino. BLM 15 full hook up sites. It's nice. A bit of road noise but not too bad.

 

[Jackiemac]

So, after Alamo Nevada we headed north and managed to squeeze into a campsite at Angel Creek near Wells Nevada. The site was really sloped so we took a risk by being a few degrees off level front to back, low at front.

We got settled and next day drove up to see Angel Lake before driving down to the Ruby Valley Wildlife Refuge. It was quite windy so although there were birds around, most were sheltering from the wind. There's a really nice campground down there and the road to it was good.

We then drove up and over the mountain range through the town of Spring Creek to Lamoille Canyon, another beautiful spot with a couple of campgrounds on the way. Still snow up there. Looks like several nice hiking trails too.

This part of Nevada is pretty.

We did the loop back via Elko. Got a little rain but not much.

 

[Jackiemac]

We left Angel Creek and the Ruby Mountains as the weather was going to get bad. We drove to Bruneau Idaho and got a nice spot at Jacob's Creek next to the water. We stayed here for 3 nights and would have stayed longer but we left to meet friends.

We drove to the Morley Nelson Snake River Conservation Area, home to many species of raptor. Not that we saw many due to the fierce winds. We dropped down to the valley floor where there is a dam, a museum (closed unfortunately), a nice park with beautiful trees and several camping spots if you brave the steep hill going down then back up. Another beautiful spot. After that we did a quick drive back through Mountain Home past the Airforce Base and had a glance at Bruneau Dunes.

Next day we took a drive out to see Bruneau Canyon. Wow. What a place. You drive over a plateau of grassland and suddenly there's a huge canyon. Really impressive. We did a short hike along part of the rim but saw on the map later there's actually a route down. Probably too adventurous for me.

 

[UTTransplant]

We haven’t spent any significant time in Nevada, but based on your posts I will have to do some planning!

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Hmmm...Building a house over a stream doesn't look like a good idea to me!!!

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Jackiemac]

Hmmm...Building a house over a stream doesn't look like a good idea to me!!!

Thanks for the pictures.

It's a hydro power plant

 

[Jackiemac]

We haven’t spent any significant time in Nevada, but based on your posts I will have to do some planning!

You should! The area around Cathedral Gorge is lovely too.

 

[Jackiemac]

We left Jacob Creek and from Mountain Home we took highway 20 then 75 to Ketchum. That was another beautiful drive.

We tried North Fork campground but it was full and quite tight for us but our friends managed to secure a spot at Wood River Campground a but further up the road. It was actually a much nicer site. We spent 4 nights there and spent most of the time relaxing and enjoying the company of our friends and their doggy.

Steve and I took a drive up Sun Valley Road to Trail Creek Road out to where it meets Wild Horse Creek where we had been in 2024 with Tony & Ann. Such a wonderful area.

On the drive back we spotted our first moose, it was a youngster and appeared to be by itself. We watched in for 15 minutes or so from the truck. Saw a nice waterfall too.

 

[Wasillaguy]

Great pic of that moose. Pretty young to be without mama though.

 

[Jackiemac]

Great pic of that moose. Pretty young to be without mama though.

That's what we thought...

 

[Tom]

Don't be around that baby when Momma shows up!

 

[jymbee]

Don't be around that baby when Momma shows up!

In my Alaska days I heard from more than one resident that they'd much rather deal with a bear than a moose.

 

[UTTransplant]

I once had the sweetest but dumbest dog in the entire world. We were camped in Wyoming somewhere along a little creek. The campsite had a large rocky spot just perfect for camp chairs that looked at the creek. We always kept the dog on a leash but not holding on to it when an adolescent moose crashed out of the forest to cross the creek. My dog may have been stupid, but she knew her job in life was protection (she was a big dog), and she launched herself at that moose! We all lunged for the leash and got it just in time! It would not have ended well for the dog. Moose was totally uninterested, and just continued crossing the creek and crashing through the forest on the other side.

 

[Jackiemac]

So after Ketchum we headed through the beautiful town of Stanley to Lowman where we had a 3 hour wait due to road maintenance. Easier to wait than divert through Boise. We had lunch and watched some swifts as we waited.

We then continued our journey. A beautiful drive along the river.

We got a trailer brake warning and checked connections but it continued intermittently. The brakes were working though so tried not to worry too much. We were also getting low on fuel and the warning light came on 2 minutes before the gas station in Cascade. We had spare gas.

We had originally been heading to McCall but due to the time we popped into Van Wyk Campground on Cascade Lake. One of only 3 first come sites now. Luckily there were spaces although most not very level.

We had a beautiful sunset.

Next day we did laundry and Steve got the Dodge dealer in town to check trailer connection. All good.

We had a drive around the lake, several very nice campgrounds.

We drove to the small town of Yellowpine. What a stunning place Idaho is. Several hot springs along the way although not easy to get to. Warm Lake had a lovely reservable Campground too.

We popped into an Irish Bar at Warm Lake called Banshees on our way back.

 

[Jackiemac]

Next day we drove to Riggins Idaho, another fabulous drive. We found a great boondocking spot on the Salmon River. We had a short drive over river rocks but it was a great site. Stayed 6 nights.

Steve thinks we might have a short on brakes but with AI help tied it down to the magnets wearing. Booked us in for replacements in a week.

Whilst here we drive as far up the Salmon as we could go. We went to 7 Devil's fire lookout then to Pittsburgh Landing at ****'s Canyon (that is a crazy road). Considered the jet boat but it was pricey and almost 2 of the hours were just chilling out in the boat or water.

We then stopped in at the Whitebird rodeo. Would have been a great day but some eejit bumped our truck when parked. Still drivable, no one hurt and we were left his details by the local Sherrif.

We drove out to the old mining town if Florence where we saw bear grass by the bucket load. Lots of dead trees being removed by the gorest guys. We looped back via Grangeville and down a steep pass at Whitebird where there are historic information boards about the Nez Pearce Whitebird Battlefield below on the prairie.

We had a couple of days at the campsite doing some minor repairs, bird watching and enjoying the sun and river. And calling the insurer.

We also saw the Shingle Creek Fire not long after it started.

 

[garyb1st]

Great pix Jackie. Makes me think it's time to hit the road again.

 

[DonTom]

Great pix Jackie. Makes me think it's time to hit the road again.

Same here, but one thing after the other is keeping me stuck in Reno.

-Don-

 

[Jackiemac]

We left Riggins and climbed up a steep hill at Whitebird. Stopped at a gas station in Grangeville ID called Nomnom to dump, fill with water, propane and gas. I really appreciate gas stations that have all of these, it makes things much easier.

The scenery in Idaho is really beautiful. Lots of grassland on this route interspersed with lava.

We then continued to a campground on the Clearwater River called Pink House. Full hook ups and $18 a night. This is close to the town of Orofino and the Dworshak Dam and Fish Hatchery.

From here we drove out to Elk City and tried to complete the Magruder Corridor but the road was rough, weather looking inclement and time against us. Lots of bear grass but again likely due to previous wildfires. Lots and lots of dead trees but several wildflowers.

We visited Lewiston ID and Clarkston WA across the river. Very industrial towns with a still active and huge paper mill.

We had a few rainy days so did minor repairs and a day of relaxation.

Drove to Dworshak State Park - beautiful campground on the reservoir with a twisting road to get there. 3 tight bends which a guy with a trailer a bit longer than ours, said needed careful navigation! We went as far as the Dent Bridge that day before heading back.

We got our trailer brakes replaced in Lewiston as we had been getting warning messages. All good since.

 

[Jackiemac]

Our next stop was Wilderness Gateway Campground on the Lolo Pass Road. We encountered rain and mist on our journey there but another beautiful drive along the Lochsa River.

We only stayed 2 nights but this is a nice spot, especially if you are a kayaker, lots of white water. We had an interesting neighbour

We did a couple of very short hikes close to the Campground with nice wildflowers again, and visited Jeremy Johnson Hot Springs and the Lochsa Lodge which sold gas which was handy. We had a beer and bite to eat there.

 

[Jackiemac]

We drove over the Lolo Pass, not as steep as we had expected. Another beautiful drive with little traffic. Missoula said "hold my beer" traffic awful.

We passed through via Costco then refuelled at Whitehall on to our next site close to Norris Montana called Trapper Springs. We got the last of 2 sites and were lucky as it was 6pm. This is in Beartrap Canyon. Several BLM camping spots all $20 a night. Not a huge number of sites though. Probably 50ish, some reservable.

We did a few drives
- Revenue Recreation Area - not for big rigs but lovely.
- Ennis Lake - a couple of nice camping spots but very busy. Beautiful Lake.
- Mill Creek where 3 bridges were getting repaired so road closing for several weeks. Again nice but not somewhere we'd take trailer. Forest not in the best condition either and toad rockier as you climbed. 2 nice lakes.
- Jack Creek which ended suddenly with a private key entry gate. I believe this is currently under review.

We visited Nevada City - a conservation town created by a guy who went and collected old buildings and erected them in one area. Highly recommended. $10 entry. Close to Virginia City which we had visited previously.

One cabin has a warning outside stating it's a Rattlesnake Habitat, back at the entrance a young lad told the lady at the desk her Rattlesnake exhibit was broken as he hadn't seen any. Cute

We spent the 4th July in and around Ennis. Very busy but nice.