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Dispersed camping is a popular camping method for many visitors to the Forest. Choosing to camp along a stream or adjacent to a meadow where there are no picnic tables, toilets or firerings allows campers to enjoy a more primitive experience.
It is recommend that dispersed campers keep to traditional campsites off of established 'two-track' vehicles routes which have been used in the past. Most of these routes are less than 300 feet from a designated open road.
There are some areas on the Forest that are closed to dispersed camping. These include administrative site, special use permit area, or sensitive areas for archeology or wildlife.
Please remove all temporary structures before you leave such as meat poles, toilets, furniture, and ditches around your tents. To find out more about minimum impact camping please visit our outdoor ethics section. Some general rules of use and restrictions also apply to visitor using dispersed camping sites. These include regulations like forest-wide camping stay limits; use of camp fires, firearms, and fireworks; and controlling pets.
This was a disappointing waste of time on our vacation. You have to do a lot of hair-raising driving on bad roads to get any sort of decent view. Unless you are planning on doing a boat tour, I recommend skipping it.
A nice area. It is a very long drive to get to this place from the Treasure Valley area. Going through the Idaho mountains, the road is very windy and you'll need to slow to speeds of 45 mph or less many, many times. Going through the Oregon side, the road is pretty good, and you have interstate from Boise to Baker City. It's a very long canyon area, so there are many miles to drive through the canyon.
Hell's Canyon in western Idaho is North America's deepest river gorge. The Snake River flows through the canyon; and most of the area is inaccessible by road. Recreational activities available include hiking, fishing, rafting, and camping. My father, brother, and I went on a 5-day whitewater rafting tour here in summer of 2007.
