Granite Creek - Idaho City, ID
After the first trip to Given's Hot Springs, we have been dying to get out in the trailer again. At least one kid will ask daily "When can we go camping again?" I have been wrestling with finishing my final grad school paper on 'Physical Activity in Classrooms and the Effect on Behavior and Academics' (click here for the presentation video). We decided we couldn't go camping until the paper and presentation were finished, and I finally got them done. To the mountains we go!!! We decided on Granite Creek off of nothing more than a Google Maps search for places near us. We knew Idaho City was a hot spot for campers, so we just looked on the map around there until we found something. 
Our initial plan was to drive up the road to find somewhere to go, but that didn't go as planned. We passed a gentleman in his Jeep coming out that waved us down. He told us it was about to get real snowy and muddy, and we would never make it pulling a trailer. He told us about an open field that we could set up or turn around in, and waved us goodbye. I'm glad we saw him, or it wouldn't have turned out well. We nearly got stuck in some snow 1/2 mile later. We flipped around and came back down by the highway. We found a place to park and set up for the weekend. 
Carrie and I have always enjoyed getting our kids outdoors. We were blessed with the chance to work at a Scout Camp in Wyoming for four years when our kids were very young (we took Colby our second year when he was only 3 months old). Our kids were raised running around outdoors, playing with every stick they find, and getting dirty. We love the lessons they can learn from being hot, tired, and bored. I think that's the main reason we wanted a camp trailer in the first place. Anyways, item #1 on our list of things to do was go hiking. Because we got there around 2:00, we had lots of time to explore before dinner. We found a motorcycle trail and stared hiking. Carrie joked that she has been walking on the treadmill at home at incline 10 for this very reason. We almost made it a mile before turning around and coming back down. We had dinner, played in the fire, and ate some candy before putting the kids to bed. 
The next day went a little different than we expected. Turns out, Idaho City isn't just a hot spot for campers, it's also a hot spot for dirt bikers, and we somehow parked in the unofficial unloading and refueling zone. At one point in time, I counted 24 trucks that were not there the night before. We had dirt bikers coming past us all day. One group would come back to refuel and eat, and when the left, another group would pull in to do the same. It wasn't a bad thing by any means, just unexpected. The kids loved watching them come and go. We got two more hikes in on Saturday. One mile in the morning, and 1.5 miles in the afternoon. We would have gone farther in the morning, but one of our kids needed a bathroom, and a tree wouldn't suffice for his needs :) 
Our original plan was to go for Friday night, see how it went, and then decide if we wanted to stay Saturday night as well. We were doing fine, so we left it up to the kids. They unanimously and excitedly voted to stay a second night. Who are we to squelch their joy? We all got a bit chilly the first night, so we turned up the heater for night two. The previous owners left some 'staples' in the trailer when we bought it, stuff like plates, cups, plastic silverware, and the like. They also left a small bucket of games. We found Phase 10 Dice and gave it a try. If you've never played before, it's pretty easy to learn. It's based on the card game of the same name where you try to get sets or runs of cards based on what phase you are on. Playing with dice was a fun twist on a family favorite game. We got the kids involved and played the whole 10 phases. Parker and Colby had fun rolling the dice, and Emmy had fun stacking the playing cards we gave her. 
As we were getting ready to leave on Sunday morning, we started to see more dirt bike trailers pulling in. It's not a bad thing; they were all quite nice. It was just something we weren't prepared to see. All in all, I'd give it a 7.5/10. I think the next time we go up to Idaho City to camp, we will find a different place to go with more tree cover and less company. BUT - it would be a great day-trip destination. Lots of hiking to do, lots of rocks to throw into the water (just ask Emmy...), and plenty of fresh air to go around. It was the best version of social distancing we could come up with :)
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