Idaho BDR 9-12/15-2025

[tobyw]

The Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR) covers something like 1,100 miles in its entirety, and has everything from arid desert at the Southern end near Nevada, to lush and thick forest up North near the Canadian border. Similar to the other BDR routes we've run, the varied terrain and ecosystems are amazing and do a great job of providing a highly visual representation of the mix of climates and cultures that make up the state. As with other BDR's, we didn't run this one from stem to stern and instead chose a segment right in the heart of all of it, starting just outside Grangeville with a target of I-84 somewhere near Glenn's Ferry. According to the map, this would cover almost exactly 450-miles of the BDR route, and we had about 3-1/2 days to get it done Here is the map:

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The entire IDBDR route is the yellow path, while the comparatively miniscule route we actually took is shown in red. Note the red arrow down toward the Southern end of the map; this was our intended exit point from the BDR onto I-84 near Glenn's Ferry, Idaho. However, you'll note our route in red actually falls short of that, because we chose an alternate exit over to Stanley, Idaho. We grew weary of the miles upon miles of gravel road as we continued South at the end of a very long third day, and made the group decision to pivot due East over to Stanley because from prior experience we knew the route from Stanley back down to I-84 to be among the most scenic drives just about anywhere within the lower 48, even if it is on pavement

Anyhow, here are some pics from the trip. I may stitch together another crummy video at some point, but without having been there yourself it all just sort of looks the same after a while so maybe not

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[TJDave]

I spy OG Cherokee and not the JLUR. I hope it's just a comfort issue.

Thank you for sharing.

[tobyw]

Mr. and Mrs. OG were en-route back from a summer in Colorado and the timing just so happened to work out. The Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is THE right tool for this particular job, but rest assured Ginger the trusty JLU-R is still in the fleet and ready to go back to work