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Old 06-15-2015, 01:15 PM   #1
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2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo trip.

once a year the idaho rally group puts on a stage rally in the forest about an hour away from boise. its 120ish mile run thats broke down into 6 stages, 3 per day. as with any event of this calibur, they need volunteers to make it happen. this is a rare opportunity to morph 2 of the things i love...camping and racing. normally i dont care to watch any motorsports, but seeing these guys huck cars and utvs around is a pretty good time. plus, if you volunteer, you get 2 lunches, a breakfast, 2 dinners and an event t-shirt.

most years i am unable to attend due to the race my wife and i put on at the end of this month and my anniversary at the beginning. the forest service chooses the date for the group, so they really have no choice, but this year they picked a weekend where i could actually attend! sadly though, the wife had to work. so i took this as another opportunity to take a solo camp trip. meaning ive never ever camped alone. ever. ive gone alone to meet other groups of campers, but never all by my lonely.

now granted, i knew a good 20 or so people up there over the weekend, but many of them i only saw as they ripped by me. lots of people were there with family...fams that dont drink, at least the camp closest to me anyway. so i choose to stay in my own spot and just visit a few other camps to say hi. i gotta say, being solo is pretty damn relaxing. i thought i was going to be bored out my mind, but what little daylight was left after the race disappeared fast and i wont lie, i liked the quiet.

sorry, i do tend to ramble....heres some pix.

my work station.






this was driven by ryan millen, son of legendary rod millen. trd built this rav 4 for him and it was the only car that wasnt full of dust inside. trd knows how to seal a cabin, lol!



i didnt take any pix of the subys as thats all you typically see at these events and they all start looking alike. there was an integra, a civic, a mini, and a handful of rzrs in additional to the onslaught of subys.

the next are 2 short vids of the 2 fastest cars at the beginning of day 2. both vids are under 20 sec.





the hootin and hollarin was from the next worker station up from me. which is funny, cause the local sheriff was stationed there as well. i should have asked how he liked that work station when he came down to visit, but forgot

heres a few pix of my camp. very small and just barely enough room for the van, but once i fandangled it in that little spot, it was great.









i figured since i was alone and didnt have someone pretty (the wife) to take pix of, id try my very first ever selfie. did i do it right??


was running out of daylight sat night, but was starving, so i put together a quick quesadilla and a 151 & cream soda and enjoyed the nice view out the front of the van to watch the the beginning of the sunset.


there was no time for wood gathering either, so i just lit a few torch/candle thingamabobs i had in the camp gear to finish out the sunset.





all in all, it was a good time. i really enjoyed my solo trip more than i thought i would. the stereo didnt even get turned on. i fell asleep each night staring at the creek from upstairs laying in bed and slept like a freaking rock.

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Old 06-15-2015, 03:33 PM   #2
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

What a great camping spot. Nothing beats falling asleep next to a creek (maybe rain on a tin roof). Great report.

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Old 06-15-2015, 04:21 PM   #3
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

Thanks for the pics and report.

I too had an opportunity to camp solo once. It was a great experience and very relaxing. That remains my one and only solo camping experience of the past 20 years.

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Old 06-15-2015, 05:11 PM   #4
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

That was a great sounding trip! First off, thanks for volunteering. Often over-looked and not given the proper acknowledgement.
Nothing in my mind beats the sound of running water to close your eyes to. Nice!
Great pics. Good for the soul.
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Old 06-15-2015, 06:21 PM   #5
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

Cool pics!
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Old 06-15-2015, 07:09 PM   #6
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

That's a great looking area and the kind of place I look for. I really don't like standard campgrounds unless they are void of people or have spots far enough away from other campers that they can't hear my engine running. Around here we used to have plenty of spots like yours but they are slowly being closed off to vehicles. I hope to get out your way in the near future and maybe have you set me up with a few ideas. I'll bring the rum if you & yours can get away
The first time I took a solo extended trip I thought I wouldn't care for it much but actually enjoyed the heck out of it. Since then I've done several similar trips. I'd rather not run highly technical trails but still like to be in back by myself. Now being with other off road friends is another story and those usually end up as the best adventures. But you're right, sometimes the piece and quiet rule.

Thanks for the trip report.
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Old 06-16-2015, 06:00 AM   #7
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb
That's a great looking area and the kind of place I look for. I really don't like standard campgrounds unless they are void of people or have spots far enough away from other campers that they can't hear my engine running. Around here we used to have plenty of spots like yours but they are slowly being closed off to vehicles. I hope to get out your way in the near future and maybe have you set me up with a few ideas. I'll bring the rum if you & yours can get away
The first time I took a solo extended trip I thought I wouldn't care for it much but actually enjoyed the heck out of it. Since then I've done several similar trips. I'd rather not run highly technical trails but still like to be in back by myself. Now being with other off road friends is another story and those usually end up as the best adventures. But you're right, sometimes the piece and quiet rule.

Thanks for the trip report.



daveb,
That's the purpose of the SMB, the quiet tranquility of you & nature and the other big RV in Australia to go away with the misses!
But, going away with the Boys, is a whole different experience. Still like Glamping though!
Doug
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Old 06-16-2015, 06:30 AM   #8
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

Sweet report Shenrie. That's exactly what I would be doing if we had any rally racing around here. I've worked some moto enduros, which to me is the next best thing. Come to think of it, I need to get back in to that!

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Old 06-16-2015, 06:55 AM   #9
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

^^^ thanks eric! we take what we can get around here and it was definitely fun to watch those crazy bastards mobbing through the forest. first year i helped out there were motorcycles entered. i figured they would stomp the cars timewise, but after seeing a few of them pass by, they looked slow and seriously miserable. this year, there were none running. still surprises me that cars can beat down the bikes. i just never thought the cars would stand a chance. i was wrong, lol.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexGX
What a great camping spot. Nothing beats falling asleep next to a creek (maybe rain on a tin roof). Great report.
ty and i completely agree on both accounts. rain on any roof and running water is just relaxing period. i grew up next to a canal and every chance i got i was out in a sleepingbag right next to it. never really gave it much thought, but maybe thats why i always aim for spots right on the water??

Quote:
Originally Posted by EMrider
I too had an opportunity to camp solo once. It was a great experience and very relaxing. That remains my one and only solo camping experience of the past 20 years.
wow, hard to get away huh? i read peoples trip reports and wonder if i would be bored all alone. had a friend ask me if i had ever camped alone earlier this year and i hadnt. he didnt know if he would like it and i agreed. ive been wondering ever since. then bam, stars aligned. we camp with a entire tribe of folks numerous times a year and we have a lot of fun, but ive always enjoyed the trips with just myself and the wife the best. we dont have any kids or dogs, so when we camp together, its 100% quiet...after i turn off the noisemaker of course (the 7.3), lol. something we never get with the group. not bitchin cause we love our friends, but after a few days of people yelling for their kids and dogs, the quiet time is welcomed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by firedude67
That was a great sounding trip! First off, thanks for volunteering. Often over-looked and not given the proper acknowledgement.
Nothing in my mind beats the sound of running water to close your eyes to. Nice!
Great pics. Good for the soul.
it was a fun trip, and surprisingly tiring. i spent a good amount of time pulling rocks out of the road to help keep these guys from blowing out tires. the cars are spaced 2 minutes apart from the start, so you get short windows. i didnt do much running, but after 2 days, i was absolutely spent. each day after the event was over it was nice to sit in that creek soaking me feets. definitely good for the soul!

and thank you for the volunteering props! stage rally is a rich mans sport, so its fun to be involved a little and not spend money. motorsports in idaho is weak compared to other states. we gotta help out one another. we put on events ourselves and know how much we rely on free help, so when i can, im there. quite a few of the local groups share equipment (radios, timing equip, etc), so it does make it a little easier to find willing warm bodies to fill worker assignments, lol.

and thank you gcvt!

Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb
That's a great looking area and the kind of place I look for. I really don't like standard campgrounds unless they are void of people or have spots far enough away from other campers that they can't hear my engine running. Around here we used to have plenty of spots like yours but they are slowly being closed off to vehicles. I hope to get out your way in the near future and maybe have you set me up with a few ideas. I'll bring the rum if you & yours can get away
The first time I took a solo extended trip I thought I wouldn't care for it much but actually enjoyed the heck out of it. Since then I've done several similar trips. I'd rather not run highly technical trails but still like to be in back by myself. Now being with other off road friends is another story and those usually end up as the best adventures. But you're right, sometimes the piece and quiet rule.

Thanks for the trip report.
^^^ your very welcome dave!

that is my ideal spot too. small, secluded and out of ears reach of anyone. i could hear random atv's on the main road in and out of that spot, but i was far enough away from them that it wasnt annoying. sounds like we think alike on the subject. i like camping where we wont annoy others with our loud camper or dirt bikes.

the sheriff i talked to said the creek i was on is basically owned by a family that has been in that area for over 150 years. they own from the center of the creek outwards of 100' or something. since our last visit up that way, there has been seriously 1000 no camping/no mining signs posted. big surprise, but hes sick of picking up after irresponsible campers and partying kids...go figure huh? the spot i was at had no signage, but apparently the organizer of the event got permission from the land owners for the official ok for his workers to camp as close to their worker assignments as possible. we actually camped further up the creek a few years ago and ended up being on private property 2 weekends in a row. wife was making breakfast one morning and the land owner showed up. he asked how we missed the sign 2 weekends in a row. he said ya, i knew you were here last weekend too, lol. he was ok with us being there as we left zero signs of camping other than a very small fire pit. i was a fool not to ask what kind of beer he liked and see if we were welcome back... dumb

as far as making it up this way, i would be more than happy to show you around. i wont always list where im camping online, but i have zero problems showing out of towners some of our favorite places to play. so whenever you have time, were game!

one random thing that happened over the weekend.... ive been trying to locate the local snow plow operators number to see if he would be willing to plow us out a spot near where we splitboard so we could camp. as luck would have it, when i was at my worker spot, 2 random guys wandered out of the sticks on 4 wheelers bear hunting. after i explained to them that they couldnt leave the area, they hung out and watched. as we chit chatted, one of the guys mentioned he knew the local plow operator. hot damn! he gave me the guys number and let me know his fav beer. sometimes how small this world is amazes me...
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Old 06-16-2015, 09:51 PM   #10
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Re: 2015 idaho rally international event & my first solo tri

Quote:
Originally Posted by shenrie


heres a few pix of my camp. very small and just barely enough room for the van, but once i fandangled it in that little spot, it was great.
In this case, I think it would be vandangled......
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