St. Joe River Camping in Idaho – St Maries to Avery

I spent a little over a week hiking and camping along the St. Joe River in Idaho with my brother and nephew. When most people think of Idaho, potatoes come to mind. There is much more to Idaho as we discovered along the St. Joe River area. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful in the Idaho Panhandle area. We picked this area because my brother’s childhood friend lives there and invited us to explore his home. These are my suggestions on things to do while you are at the St. Joe River camping.

The St. Joe River lies within the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.

The story of my St. Joe River camping trip

Day 1: Spokane, WA to St. Maries, ID

I arrived in Spokane, WA the day before the rest of my party. My brother, Mike, and his son, Brandon, were supposed to meet me that night, but they missed their flight. I went and picked them up the next day at the airport.

Before heading out to St Maries (pronounced Mary’s), we had a great lunch at Brick West Brewery in downtown Spokane.

The drive to St. Maries was a beautiful one. There are rolling wheat and hay fields with amazing golden colors. Splash this in the foreground with mountains in the background, it was beautiful everywhere you looked. The total drive was about two hours.

Once we got to St Maries, which sits along the St. Joe River, we had to go about 15 miles east of town to get to our place for the night. My brother’s childhood friend, Mike, lives in St Maries, and we stayed on his land for the night.

It was strange at night. There were absolutely no sounds. No insects at all or birds at night either. So eerily quiet. What made it stranger was the fact of the no campfire/burning law that was in effect because of how dry it was. It was an interesting way to start out a camping trip. Also, there were a lot of wildfires in the St. Joe River area. The wildfires brought lots of smoke into the air.

Day 2: Crystal Lake during our St. Joe River Camping trip

We woke up, broke camp, and drove into St. Maries. We talked to a local about where we should go. His suggestion, as well as my brother’s friend, Mike, go to Crystal Lake along the St. Joe River. We had an awesome breakfast at a local place, Heidi’s before we headed out.

Let me tell you, it was one hell of a ride up to the spot. No one told us that it would be an hour to two-hour ride up a mountain to get there. We had a Nissan Maxima rented for this trip. It was a little hairy at times.

Once we got up there, we noticed that we were about 5,500ft in elevation. The view of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest was spectacular.

Where we parked, the hike to Crystal Lake, where our campsite is located, is 2.8 miles. It is considered a moderate hike. It was a tough and treacherous trek through rock slides with lots of ups and downs. The hike had amazing views of deep valleys and mountain peaks. Truly a picturesque place.

After about a three-hour hike in the grueling heat, we made it to our campsite. And wow! The drive up the mountain and hike was worth it! This place is prestigious. It looks like a crater in the middle of the mountain.

First night at Crystal Lake

We set up camp and had a great evening. A little after 9 pm, when the sun set, we heard a noise from an animal that was close. After about 5 minutes, I saw large legs just past the trees next to our camp. Standing about 15 yards from us was a Bull Moose! He walked right by our campsite and went into the water to take a swim. We kept waiting for him to come back, but he never did.

Later that night, things calmed down, and we went to sleep. I was woken up at 1 am by the sounds of a pack of wolves howling. It was incredibly loud and echoed off the mountains. The sound was one of the most beautiful, haunting things I have heard. Crystal Lake was a gem of a place!

Day 3: Typical day of camping

This day was a typical day of camping. We did some hiking in the mountains. Mike and Brandon did some fly-fishing in Crystal Lake. Mike found out that the moose slept not too far from where we were camped. Just a great day to enjoy the area that we were in.

Day 4: Hiked out of Crystal Lake back to St. Maries

As we were breaking camp, a few hikers came in and told us about a different route out. Turns out, the cliff while hiking isn’t as bad, and it is a shorter distance. We decided to try this way. Plus, seeing new views is always the best.

It was a beautiful hike from our campsite. The hike from Crystal Lake reminded me of scenes from The Sound Of Music in the Austrian Alps. There are rolling meadows on the mountains and great trees that reminded us of a miniature Red Wood Forest. At the top of the hike, we were at roughly 6,000 ft in elevation.

Though it is not on the St. Joe River, I highly suggest visiting this area. It is right off from the river and you can see the river from the mountains.

We got back to St. Maries and decided to have a nice cold beer at a local bar. We all discussed how the Idaho Panhandle National Forest is a great place. After, we went over to my brother’s friend, Mike’s house for dinner and met his family.

His family was amazing and his wife cooked us a chicken dinner. They are very self-sufficient on their land. The entire experience was an absolute delight. After a few hours, we went to the hotel that we booked for the next two nights.

Day 5: A trip to Avery

My brother’s friend, Mike showed up at our hotel to show us around the St. Joe River area. He wants to go out to Avery to find another great place for us to make camp.

Avery is about an hour’s drive east of St. Maries. Avery is a little town that was an important train depot spot. This was the town where the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul Train Line would stop and switch from electric engines to steam, diesel, or coal engines to continue to Seattle, WA.

There is a train car to walk through. It is only 1 of 2 left in the world. This was a major area in the logging industry for the Idaho Panhandle.

We went up the North Folk St. Joe River to find another campsite. We wanted to find a place to drive up to and have hiking trails around us. It was hot, well into the 100’s. It will make it easier to have a place to drive up to.

We found a perfect place right on the river for our St. Joe River camping trip. We pitched our tents to save the campsite and continued on our trip to the area. Also, this is a free area to camp at. This is all on an old railroad. There are many tunnels in the mountains to drive through.

We stopped at a great lookout location with the river below us. The sight was incredible.

After, we drove back to St. Maries and went out for pizza, and reflected on the day. We went to our hotel room, relaxed, and drank beer for the night before we headed out to our new campsite.

Day 6: Back into the forest at Avery to continue the St. Joe River camping trip

We got up, showered, and packed to head out. We decided to stop in Avery for a couple of beers before heading to the campsite. There is an awesome place, The Fire Pit or TFP there. It was nice to stop there because the temperature was already skyrocketing.

We finally got to our campsite. We finished setting up camp. Mike and Brandon took some time to fly fish on the North Fork St. Joe River. That night we sat around with some drinks and shared memories.

Day 7: A hike in the heat

We rose early to beat the heat. We went about a quarter-mile from our campsite to hike Trail 175. The hiking trail goes along Kyle Creek. It was very nice by the water and under the cover of trees.

Once we rose in elevation and got above a lot of trees, it became hot, fast. We hiked about 2 miles and decided to break for lunch. We had some trail tacos, as we like to call them.

It was just too hot at this point to be hiking. We decided to hike down and go to TFP in Avery. It was only a short 15-minute drive from our campsite and a great way to stay cool.

Day 8: Fly-fishing and time to run from the wildfires

When we woke the next day, I remember seeing on my phone at TFP about thunderstorms coming in during the day. I wanted to get a better idea of when they were supposed to start, in case we had to break camp early.

When we got there, we ordered a couple of pizzas and saw that things were looking good to stay for the night. We met a couple of great people who told us to check out a great spot for fly fishing. They also invited us out to a place for the evening in case it does rain.

Fly Fishing

We drove about 15 minutes down the road alongside the St. Joe River. It was a beautiful spot. It was strange though. The sky had a yellow/orange/red glow to it. It was from the close wildfires and the smoke in the air. Mike and Brandon got in some fly-fishing on the St. Joe River.

After a while, we decided to head back to our campsite. After relaxing for the afternoon, we started to hear some thunder in the distance. It started to sprinkle. We decided to take up our offer to head out for some drinks.

That night and the wildfires

Though we were on the St. Joe River camping, sitting in the rain, was not a fun idea. We went out and met up with our new friends. After a bit, one of the bartenders from TFP joined and told us about how bad the lightning and rain as been. She also told us that the fires have spread fast, and they were heading toward the campsites on the North Fork St. Joe River.

We decided to head to our campsite to see how it was. About halfway there, we noticed it got seriously smokey. It was like being in a smoker. Our St. Joe River camping trip looks like it may be ending.

We got closer and noticed that it looked like it was snowing. Ash. Ash was falling from the fires. Once we reached our campsite, we noticed we had about a quarter-inch of ash on our tents. At this point, we decided to break camp and head back to St. Maries to stay at Mike’s place.

Mike, who is an ex-forest firefighter, told us that we made the right decision to leave our campsite.

Day 8: The last day

We all had a discussion about the wildfires. Learned that where we were camping was probably destroyed by morning. I really hope that is not the case so that other people can enjoy the area and campsite.

After lunch, Mike took us over to his beehives. He runs a local bee hive company. My brother, Mike, and Brandon put on bee suits and got into them. My brother’s friend, Mike gave us a beekeeping 101 education. Learn more about Hugus Creek Honey Farm. Soon after, we packed up and left for Spokane to head back home.

St. Joe River Camping

Even though we had an experience from a moose to wildfires, I highly recommend visiting the St. Joe River to camp and hike. We will be coming back here again. There is just so much to do in the St. Joe River area. From all the trails and campsites in this area, you are able to make a St. Joe River camping adventure of your own.

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