20120915 Idaho Sportsmans Access

Leaving Oregon the other day was hard, what with Oregon’s wealth of public land and no sales tax.  Idaho brought a reality check with the store clerk announcing an amount a few percent higher than that posted on the shelf.

Idaho isn’t all bad, though.  This state has a program administered by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game called Sportsmans Access.  I’m not sure how it works exactly, but it seems landowners public and private have provided access to hunters and anglers throughout the state.  In most cases access is free.  Some access points are simply a tiny turnout next to a stream.  Others are many acres.

Ann and I had been intending to check out some of these areas as they are noted on our Idaho state backcountry atlas.  Today was the day we did it.  

Our original route north out of Council, ID, where we had mail sent, was, as Ann puts it, a hornets’ nest of fires.  Smoke, sometimes in a plume and sometimes generally covering the sky like a thick marine layer of clouds, could be seen in our direction of travel and smelled where we were.  A check of the USFS fire website showed several fires to the north and northeast.  Just where we wanted to go.  This morning we changed direction.

Turning back south, we hit I-84 from Payette to Mountain Home.  This 100 miles marked our first real interstate highway driving in three weeks or so.  From Mountain Home we left I-84 for Highway 20, heading for Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It seemed away from the many Idaho fires and offers dispersed camping: read free and isolated.

Along the way we happened to see a sign for a Sportsmans Access point called Moonstone.  Of course we passed it by but looked in its direction.  We could see a dirt road and a bit of water in a deserted place.  A quarter of a mile later we turned around and headed back. 

What a find, just a quarter of a mile off the highway. 




The end of the dirt road sports several reasonably level campspots, some with fire rings.









 












A paved ramp leads to the reservoir.







A spiffy privy sits nearby.






In the spring Moonstone Reservoir catches and holds snowmelt for agriculture and grazing. 




By mid-September, when we arrived, most of the water had gone.  But then, so had the other campers. 

 We were alone among the sagebrush and lava rock. 

Dare I say it?  You know what is coming.  I won't say it.  Oh, what the heck.  This is our own private Idaho.