planning a road trip boise and up to lewiston. (Payette: appointed, spring break)

[cricket_25]

my family and i really want to visit idaho. we've never been up there so, although ive done lots of research and been all over these forums and whatnot, we dont know a whole lot. to tell the truth i am in love with your beautiful state and the people on this forum are so awesome. id like to move up there someday but as of now its just a dream of mine. for our first visit.. im torn between trying to visit at its harshest and giving myself s good healthy dose of reality OR visiting when its beautiful and ensuring my husband falls in love with it as well! lol mostly tho, i just want to visit. we will probably visit quite a few times in the upcoming years to get a good idea of the feel of all the seasons but for now we're stuck to my schedule.

so i have 2 choices when it comes to travel times. i can come up march 30- april 5 or i can wait until summer after the 12th of june. i think this is the best that my 2015 schedule will allow. i want to get into boise and then go up the 55 or west through payette and weiser, up to lewiston and return the opposite way. thats ideally. advice is always welcome (thats what im here for) but i would like to see those two areas in this trip if thats possible. mostly im just trying to hammer down the time we are coming. it will either be during spring break for my boys or summer break. not a lot of flexibility. any and all opinions on those times of year are welcome. thanks in advance and of course if ive left out info that would be helpful just ask

[Publius4]

I'd skip March and come in June. For your first visit you should come see Idaho when she is at her best. I brought my family to Idaho a few years back for our first visit during the summer. My wife was very lukewarm to the idea of moving here until she saw it during the summer. She fell in love and here we are now. Make a good first impression! You will definitely have to come back a couple times at least during the winter to get a balanced perspective.

I've not gone the western path to Weiser before but I have gone north on 55 from Boise. It is a really nice drive. First you'll go through Cascade. There's no much in the way of a town there but there is a beautiful lake (reservoir) there. Stop and take in the scenery for a little bit. Continuing north on 55 you'll reach McCall. It is a neat, aesthetically pleasing town that is the home of Lake Payette. * Caution * - McCall is a tourist trap. But hey, you'll be a tourist so enjoy! If you leave Boise in the morning McCall would be a good place for lunch.

Leaving McCall you'll go around the south side of the lake and eventually pick up 95 around New Meadows. There's nothing going on there so head north on 95. You'll cross the 45th parallel (there's a sign - photo op). From there I went up to Grangeville (no the direct route to Lewiston but I wanted to see Grangeville) and took the Payette (IIRC) scenic byway over to Lewiston. The mountains on the way to Grangeville are incredible! They are so huge as you drive along they completely swallow your view. You won't be able to see the tops of them without craning your neck toward the windshield. There's really nothing much to see in Grangeville. It is the county seat of Idaho county which happens to be the least populated county in the state.

I had really high hopes for Lewiston. I was really interested in moving there because of the climate there. That is, until I visited. I was sorely disappointed. The main street in town is all but dead. The pulse there was so faint. Everything you read about the stench there is true! The mill emits a terrible odor in the air. It didn't take long for me to realize this wasn't the place for us. We did take the Snake River boat ride across the border in Clarkston. That's a nice excursion. The boat took us down the Snake between Washington and Idaho (the river is the border) before docking at a neat outpost in Oregon. It's a 5 hour ride and pretty neat.

I'm certain Mike (banjomike) will chime in and provide a lot of additional information for you, including his opinion on the Payette-Weiser route.

[banjomike]

I agree with Publius.
Idaho can be quite beautiful in the early spring, but really, March is more mild winter than spring is here, and can still have freezing spells. Since you will be driving in canyons on part of the drive, I think you would enjoy the drive a lot more without worrying about the road conditions up ahead.

It is a beautiful drive. But it's not a fast one; 55 is a comfortable speed for a lot of it, so it's good to plan to take your time.

Either branch ends up at the same place, at New Meadows. The drive to Weiser is open farm country, but just north of Weiser, the forests and mountains begin again, so most of either route will be mountains, canyons, rivers and pine trees.
The route that goes to Horshoe Bend, just north of Boise, is mountainous pretty much most of the way.

If you can plan for a full week or more, plan to spend most of a day at Weiser; the National Fiddle Contest happens on the 3rd FULL week of June, and the city is full of music 24 hours a day for free. Regulars who attend every year actually begin showing up the week before the official start so they can score the best camping spots, so from about June 17, there will be players roaming around looking for jam sessions. The event's official start is the following Sunday and lasts for a full week.

Don't forget to pack a hoodie or a vest or something. The days can be hot here in June, but the evenings are still quite cool most years. June can also be quite rainy, too.

There is a 3rd option: You can drive east on I-90 from C d'A toward Missoula, and just before you reach Missoula, get off the interstate onto US93 to Lolo, Montana, and then head west again on Hwy. 12. This drive goes through the Lolo canyon, and it's cool- mountain goats can be seen, and the drive will put you into Kookia, just north of Grangeville.

Lolo was the heart of the Big Burn, the largest forest fire in the west. The fire happened almost 100 years ago, but evidence of it can still be seen along the drive. If you have never read author Norm McLean's Young Men and Fire, but a copy and take it along… it will add real depth to what you will see. McLean wrote A River Runs Through It before Young Men and Fire, and while both are amazingly good, reading the second is like walking on that ground 94 years ago, when it was aflame.

[KurtAngleDoesn'tSuck]

Originally Posted by Publius4

Idaho county...happens to be the least populated county in the state.

This piqued my curiosity since I'm likely moving there.

Idaho county isn't even close to being the least populated county in Idaho.
That distinction belongs to Clark County with a population of less than 700,
compared to Idaho County with a population of almost 17,000.

Others with smaller populations than I.C. are Lemhi, Shoshone, Clearwater, Boundary,
Adams, Bear Lake, and probably several others that I don't feel like looking up right now.

Idaho county likely has the least population density per square mile just
because of the sheer size of the county, but it is hardly the least populated.

[Publius4]

Originally Posted by KurtAngleDoesn'tSuck

Idaho county likely has the least population density per square mile just
because of the sheer size of the county, but it is hardly the least populated.

yup, it's the least populated/sq mi. I apologize for missing that.