Forest Road 210 Dispersed Camping

No frills boondocking. Accessed from the main road leading out to Red Fish Lake, the dirt road is tight as it goes up the hill, but once up there it opens up an has numerous sites. Be aware that after about a half-mile you reach private land for a portion of the road (clearly marked) which you can pass through and back into public lands.

Just before the general redfish lake campground area, this road is well maintained and has plenty of options to set up camp. There was a recent burn that took down many of the trees so it is less forested. Easy access to the redfish lake area, walkable to little redfish lake. Good cell service on VZ; no cell service on AT&T. I was able to work from here for the week with a hotspot. 4 bars 4GLTE.

The road up is a little rough (but not the worst we’ve encountered & definitely doable), but there are a variety of spots for small and big rigs. Redfish Lake is only 1.6 miles down the road with plenty of hiking, swimming, boat rentals & gorgeous views! There is a $5 dump station at Redfish Lake with potable water. No AT&T service. Verizon had 6 Mbps download speed & 4 Mpbs upload speed with no antenna or booster. With the antenna I got 17 download and 10 upload. We were able to conduct our video conferences from this location!!

We arrived in the area one day before all the FS campgrounds were closing for the season, so we chose this camp based on the reviews. As the disclaimer on this website says "Accessibility is not guaranteed, always scout ahead before driving down dirt roads." If we would have unhooked and done that, we would have looked elsewhere. I had to use 4wd low range to get up the initial hill, which is okay, that's what it's for, but I think it's a bit too rough and steep for even our short 5th wheel. And a bit skinny. We added some 'Sawtooth Stripes' to the side of the trailer. That being said, we were rewarded by finding a nice level site with plenty of sun exposure for the solar panels. A little road noise from the hwy, but not bad.

We showed up on a Wednesday afternoon, couldn’t get any campgrounds by the lake so we went back to forest road 210 and got a nice spot.

We have a 42 ft fifth wheel so we didn’t go up the steep road, there is a fairly large spot before you start climbing and it worked out perfect. It had young pines all around and partial mointain view.

Only 2 Downsides: dusty ground and no cell service

Stay limit: 16 days

Loved this spot. Surrounded by a lot of paid camping, so it filled up quick on the weekend I stayed. Good enough service to text and get some internet intermittently. Very close to the lake, hot springs and many trailheads. I stayed at the first site near the road and had a lot of privacy as many people drove up the road.

We were staying down the road but wanted to scout out this location. There is one spot at the bottom of the hill however, if that's full and you have a bigger rig, that hill could be a tough one. It was pretty rutted when we were there in early June , steep and I imagine it is a muddy disaster if raining.

However, once you get up the hill, there are some excellent spots! Plenty of larger spaces if you make it up.

Unlike all the other boondocking locations in the area, there was no longer a stay limit sign posted here. I checked with the ranger station and they said yes, dispersed camping is allowed along the entire length of FR210 but the new stay limit is 10 days.

Road in is rocky and rutted, but passable in our SUV+pod. One lane only so go slow and be prepared to back down. We parked at 44.166130, -114.897451, nice spot. Surrounded by low brush, small trees, wind flowers, view of beetle kill and mountains. 3-4 bars 4G VZW unboosted. Throughput is challenging during the day when everyone is crushing the tower, but we were able to do video calls when needed. This site was level enough, ground is fine silt, VERY dusty during our stay. Good sun for solar.

People come and go at other sites, you can hear traffic on the main road but not bothersome. During our stay there was a bright green bus with three dogs that ran through our site and one began to charge us as we went out for a walk. One weeknight about 9p a group of kids pulled into the site across the road for a bonfire and music for a couple hours. Another night tenters blasted their music for the valley to hear. So, pack an abundance of tolerance.

We stayed for nine days and on our second Friday we can back to a note from FS that said they noticed us there the previous Friday and be aware of the 10 day limit. Bring as many provisions as you can - one small grocery in Stanley and supplies are limited depending on the day.

I drove up to check out this area since we were staying in Salmon River Designated Spot 2 and there are now no camping signs all over in this area. It is very hard to tell if the signs are meant just for the specific area where they are posted as it is clear those are in previous camping spots, but there are other spots that do not have signs right next to those. You may want to check with the ranger station before heading up to see if camping is still allowed in this area.

On a side note, as others have mentioned the road up is pretty steep and rutted so enter with caution. I would not have pulled my 30ft travel trailer up there for sure.