Buzzards’ Roost gave us a great “Home Camp,” away from the traffic of public campgrounds and within easy reach of several reservoirs. We both grew up camping on the sides of Idaho Forest Service roads, and we’re not really fans of “camping” cheek-by-jowl with a hundred others in a tamed State Park, so this was a lovely alternative—all the quiet & seclusion of “real” camping, with the perks of a picnic table, an already-level space for our tent, and no need to dig a potty-hole. ;)
The site itself is situated on a riverbank, intermittently shaded by juniper trees, and surrounded by high-desert sage. When we rolled down our pickup window to chat up a local oldster fishing off the bridge, he shared his favorite fishing spots just up the mountain in the Ochoco National Forest (pointing at his grinning Indian grandson, who couldn’t be older than five, and adding, “That one’s caught upward of twenty trout up there.”)
A fire ban precluded the campfire, but we enjoyed camp-stove-coffee and a breathtaking sunset painting the hills opposite while deer tiptoed among the sagebrush nearby. Yipping coyotes served as our “alarm clock” for early-morning fishing, and the morning was refreshingly chilly in this summer’s heat wave.
Land-owner Ronald is a gem—I texted him with a few questions when we booked, and we ended up in a lively conversation (he ALSO grew up camping in Idaho forests!) that resumed when we had an on-site question and continued after our departure, making plans to meet up later this summer for a wagon-ride with his mules! He has plans for continuing to enhance the campsite, and we’ll be back to see it evolve!