IDAHO STATE PARKS
We left on a 2 weeks holiday to hike and bike in various areas of Idaho, Oregon and Washington states. No specific destination was in mind but we knew of a couple of trails in Idaho that we wanted to visit and one in OR and in WA. Basically, we followed our nose.
The first night we stopped at Farragut State Park near Coeur d'Alene, ID. Generally, we've liked the national and state parks throughout the US on previous visits. We couldn't "register" for camping until after 3pm but we picked out a site and rode our bikes around. There were lots of views of Lake Pend'Oreille and there were numerous roads and trails for biking. Our bikes did not like the obstacles on some of the trails, but there were plenty of options. We stuck to the roads most of the time.
When we registered for camping we were a bit shocked to discover that the price was $65USD. In Idaho, if you are "non-resident", the price is doubled - a regular campsite is $32 for a resident, plus tax. In Canadian money, this is close to $100 for a single night of camping?! As a result, we did not visit more state parks in ID and I'd suggest that the prices are too high for Canadians to consider. Fortunately, this did not occur in other states that we visited.
The National Forests are good places for camping and we were a bit surprised to find out that the campsite we located called Beauty Creek had already closed by October 8th. We parked at the entranceway and the bathrooms were still open (with toilet paper!) and it was quite a nice spot. Of course, the Beauty Creek had completely dried up - this whole area was in great need of rain. There was a pretty good hike up a hillside to some good views but I had no idea if I had enough time to actually "hike" it before dark. I opted for one viewpoint. The next morning we did do a lovely hike above Lake Coeur d'Alene near the campsite.
Our third night of camping in ID took place at the trailhead on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes near Harrison, ID. There were no signs stating no overnight parking and a bathroom was at the location we chose. We observed our best sunset of the entire trip. The 2 "free" nights rather made up for expensive camping in the state parks.
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