On our way to Owyhee State Park we had a little adventure. We have driven through Boise, Idaho a bunch of times and we either stay at a rest stop or a couple of state or COE parks south of Boise. This trip I was looking for something north Boise because we are going to be dropping down into Nevada from here. Using ultimatecampground.com I found this state park. What I didn’t research enough was the road to the campground. Owyhee State Park is on a reservoir and the road to the base of the dam is pretty good, mostly a narrow one and a half lane road. It follows the river for 22 miles and we saw a quite a few people fishing in the river.
The challenge comes when you reach the dam. The road Y’s, right to dam office and visitor’s center and left to dam and campground. This is a true Y with no place to turn around, remember with the car behind the motorhome I cannot back up. To the right has a bridge 50 hundred yards down the road, I was not to sure I wanted to take my motorhome across. It is not a huge motorhome but is 32 feet and weighs 22,000 pounds. Left is a narrow road to the dam and campground, even has a narrow road sign. We went left. Narrow is 10 feet wide cut into the steep hillside with at least a 10% grade for the last quarter mile of a half mile stretch to the top of the dam. Just past the top is a 50 foot wide parking lot and a two door out house. At this point the narrow road continues on 3.5 miles to the campground. I could see the road cut into the hillside and after 3 or 4 minutes of looking and thinking I decided this is a good place to turn around and camp on the river. I talked to a guy in this parking lot, he said it is a scenic drive out to the campground but he wasn’t sure he would drive a motorhome out there. I unhooked the car and after jocking back and forth a couple of times I got the motorhome turned around, car hooked up and headed back down the dam in first gear. Found a great spot in the valley and on the river with enough view of the southern sky to watch SYFY’s Face Off.
Campsite by the river:
Today’s drive:
Sent from Harry’s iPad