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.

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!