Best Dispersed Camping near Rupert, ID

This was a really really small camping area that's located along the creek road going through the south hills of Idaho.  There are absolutely no amenities here however so take care of business at one of the more developed campgrounds along the road!  It had wonderful shade everywhere but there wasn't any flat ground to be able to lay out a tent.  There were also only 2 maybe 3 campgrounds if you squeezed it in and it required a high clearance vehicle to get to 2 of them.  Good thing is if you get these sites you will have no one around you and personal access to a great hiking trail and in the winter snowshoeing back country skiing trail!

HUGE disappointment. We drive 3 miles with our TT on a long steep dirt road, to find an overgrown site with no "spring". The trees and grass have taken over and the spring was dry. You could see exposed pipes, maybe the re-route that water in the summer? There are two sites (supposedly there are 5), one of which is completely exposed to the sun, the other is located close to the "spring" within a mangled mess of weeds and overgrown trees. With the hot temperatures and high winds, we didn't want to risk it. If you have travel trailer, 4x4 is recommended as the road is rough and steep in places. The turn off the highway is VERY tight, watch out of the cattle guard if you have low clearance.

I don't know how people are finding the beautiful places they show here. I used the GPS coordinates from here and it led me to a maze of twisted little passages. Very deeply rutted roads challenging me and my 4wd led to a complex of turns and turnarounds. The only road that appeared to lead down to the river was dirt at about 45 degrees. There are many ways to go and I don't know how to could know which to take. Must be dumb luck to find a pretty place by the river.

So, I left and went to the location that the BLM website gives for this named place. It's not the same place. The official location of this place is farther west. That is poorly identified, too. There's a signed turnoff but down the road there's a "Y". I went right. That led to confusion and nasty flies going into my nose and eyes. I left.

Looking at the map later it appears that I should have gone LEFT at the "Y" instead of right. I have no idea what that's like.

Basically, this place has many roads that intersect and go to unknown places. I don't know why there are so many roads, circles, "Y"s, along the river, perpendicular to the river.

The BLM website isn't helpful. I called them and expected a call back but didn't get it.

I wouldn't go here without one of the people here who submitted great reviews with beautiful photos. It's not worth the confusing directions (both my Garmin RV GPS and Google Maps were wrong in different places) and ambiguity of destinations.

Delightful creekside free campsites! Turn at the BLM sign and take a little gravel road to several free creekside spots! There are at least two pit toilets, one at a spot with two picnic tables, each has a great shade, fire pit, and a place for a camp stove! One has a flat raised gravel spot for a tent, which was good because we actually saw a couple mice. The second pit toilet was further down the road at a more separated spot, it looked like it was ADA accessible and also had a picnic table, etc. Close enough to Carey to get gas/ice. Only giving it 4 stars because of the mice (pack out your own trash guys! It isn’t hard!) and the complete lack of trees, the covers over the picnic tables did proved shade, but it still got crazy hot.