We've got just a 2-day stop here in Idaho at one of their Top 5 State Parks. Why only 2-nights? Well, the truth is that's all we can fit into our budget.
Shortly after COVID restrictions were being put into place, Idaho State Parks took a look at their fee schedule and decided some changes needed to be made.
I also remember reading a story about an Idaho politician being upset that when he decided he wanted to take his family on a camping trip at his favorite park that there were no openings for the next few months. Of course he wanted to go camping in the heart of the short camping season that they have here in Idaho. He had studies done and found that more than half the sites were being occupied by tourists (out of state residents) which only further led to his frustrations.
Well soon, the NEW fee schedule was adopted and now the Top 5 state park campgrounds in Idaho have "doubled" the fee for out of state residents. For instance the trailer across the drive from our campsite has Idaho license tags and they're paying $35 a night for the pleasure of camping in the park. Us Floridians? We're paying $70 for exactly the same campsite and amenities.
How could it be worse? Well if we were camping in some of the other Top 5 state parks we would be paying "double" on the $7 daily Motor Vehicle Entrance Pass as well. Why this park doesn't have the double entry fee I don't know, but I'm glad it doesn't.
I checked the reservation website and found that 28 of the 85 sites here are still available for the weekeend, just 1-day in advance. So congratulations Mr. Politician, if you want to go camping with your kids before they go back to school next week, there's plenty of openings here and the weather forecast is sunny with no chance of rain.
You'd think that after 4-years of this "make the tourists pay" attitude they would evaluate if they're making more money from the locals or losing money from the tourists that refuse to be extorted.
Idaho is not alone with this type of policy, but most other states charge a flat $3-$5-$10 a night surcharge for out of state residents. I'm OK paying that kind of surcharge, but double? BTW - Idaho charges just $3 for out of staters at the rest of their less popular, less busy and less desirable state parks. How kind of them!
SORRY! Rant over... You can check out Idaho State Park's full fee schedule and rules HERE.
Over the last 7-years, we've camped in state parks in all 50 of the United States. They make up a full 40% of our overnight visits, but if something doesn't change, we may have stayed in our last Idaho State Park.
MORE TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
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Traveling across southern Montana we saw a whole lot of grain silos...
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...and a lot of hay ready to be stored for the fast approaching winter season.
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We stopped in Virginia City, MT (not NV) for lunch in this quaint narrow café.
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The café also serves food to the saloon next door.
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Outside was an antique fire truck that for $12 would ride you around town.Yes that's THE POD and ROVER parked on the side street while we ate lunch.
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The entire downtown area was only seven "short" blocks long.
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Looking east from the same location as the previous photo.
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Downtown may have been small, but they had two banks and a Masonic Lodge on Main Street.They also had an Ice Cream Store that we checked out, 1 scoop each, total bill $15.45 with tip.
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Leaving Virginia City we experienced a long slow climb before descending into the valley.
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From a scenic viewpoint we could see the next 20-miles of our route far down below.
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We knew we had arrived at the bottom of Madison Valley...
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...when the road began following the course of the Madison River.
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When we were getting near the Idaho border we saw something disturbing far up ahead.
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We just saw a small thunderstorm in the area a few minutes ago...
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...and the closer we got the worse it looked.Then our route started to parallel the ridge where the fire was burning.
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Soon we could see it was indeed a wildfire and not just a large controlled burn.
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These homes south of the fire should be fine, the winds are blowing the fire north.
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From high up at the state border we could already see our destination, Henrys Lake.
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Pretty cool entrance sign in the shape of Idaho.Notice the construction of an additional camping loop in progress.
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Yep, we must be in the right spot. They were expecting us!
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That's what is left of the thunderstorm that started the wildfie.
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All the usual amenities, but not worth $77 a night.
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Even this wonderful lakeview doesn't make it worth the price.
We don't want to leave too early, so that we can have lunch in town before heading back. We came up with 10:00AM as a perfect launch time.
I went online last night and found there are some FREE BLM campsites just a few miles from the state park. We drove over there and found out they have the same, and maybe even better, views of Henry Lake.
Sure, there is no electricity, water or hot showers like we have in the state park, but these sites are FREE, not $77 a night. There is also no one to complain to if the guy camping next to you wants to crank up his generator at 2:00AM to make himself a cup of coffee.
But one thing this BLM campground does have is the best pair of vault toilet facilities we have come across in the entire seven years we've been on the road.
Both bathrooms were designated for use by male/female, so don't think this "fishing themed" bathroom was only reserved for the men. After I was finished doing my business, I just had to take a peek into the second room, it didn't disappoint.
Walking back to where Tricia and ROVER were waiting for me, I told Tricia to take her camera into both bathrooms and take some photos. You should have seen the odd look I recieved for that comment, but she did it anyway! She's always willing to take one for the team!
Sometimes I create these blogposts using just the photos that Tricia supplies me with. Other times I ask her to take specific photos if I have a story already developing in my head. Between those two strategies, we usually come up with something to write about and share with you all.
So far we've only traveled a few miles away from our campsite. It's time to put some miles between us and head 20-miles south to another Idaho State Park.
★ Harriman State Park doesn't have a campground, but they do rent yurts. The park came about when the Harriman Family donated 11,000 acres to the state for the creation of a wildlife preserve and bird habitat.
The good news for us was that our Motor Vehicle Entrance Pass, the one that we paid for with our camping fees, gained us access to Harriman State Park today and "saved us" the $7.00 fee at the gate.
On our way south to Harriman State Park Tricia saw a billboard claiming "The Best Pizza in Idaho" at the Blue Buffalo Resort & RV Park. So you can guess where we ate lunch today.
Also while on our way south we saw a roadsign for a community dump station. On the way back, we stopped by to see if it was FREE or not, and found out it was by donation. We added it to our GPS route for tomorrow when we leave Idaho and head back into Wyoming.
Why do we need a dump station tomorrow? Because it's been 7-days since we dumped our waste tanks and the dump station here at our $77 a night Henrys Lake State Park campground has been unusable for at least 4-years according to the Volunteer at the Entrance Station.
They have enough money to add an entire additional loop to the campground when they're not selling out the sites they have now, but get the dump station repaired, no can do!
Alright, shutting up now. Stay tuned for more adventures from TWO PEAS and THE POD.
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