Agency-listedIdaho PowerFree
Jacks Creek
Drive-up · Idaho Power · ID · 42.90316, -115.86422
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Idaho Power lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
A small free camp on the Snake River arm of C.J. Strike Reservoir, run by the power company that owns the dam. Idaho Power's own page prices it in two words -- 'Free. No usage fees.' -- and lists it as 'Day use and overnight camping'. Do not expect a campground: what is here is a limited number of sites with fire rings, a vault toilet and some interpretive signs, off Idaho Highway 78 near milepost 74 in the sagebrush country of Owyhee County. There are no water or electric hookups and no drinking water is claimed, so come fully self-contained -- this is high desert and it is hot and exposed in midsummer. The stay limit is 14 days. 'Limited sites' means exactly that, so have a backup in mind on a holiday weekend; Idaho Power's paid C.J. Strike campgrounds (North, Scout, Cottonwood, Locust) are the nearby fallback and they do charge. Watch the near-name trap: JACKS CREEK WEST, a mile down the road, is also free but is day-use only -- no overnight camping there. The fishing is the point for most people who come here. Confirm current conditions with Idaho Power (1-800-488-6151) before you go, pack out what you bring, and leave the site better than you found it.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Jacks Creek
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,461 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Jacks CreekNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Jacks Creek · Idaho Power · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- +Urgent care4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- MMechanic18 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- DDump40 mi
- ShShower40 mi
- WWater47 mi
- OOutfitter50 mi
- AAir-up59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 47-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Jacks Creek
Access
Drive-up
Land
Idaho Power
Elevation
2,461 ft
Ground slope
1.6% · flat
State
ID
Coordinates
42.90316, -115.86422
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Jacks Creek · Idaho Power · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Side Canal · ~0.3 mi · USGS: canal or ditch, no flow class
- Also mapped (OSM)Bruneau River (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townBruneau · ~3.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~3.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~3.7 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~18.9 mi
- Hospital / clinic366th Medical Group - Mountain Home Airforce Base Medical Facility · ~11.2 mi
- HardwareCarr’s Home Center Tru Value · ~18.0 mi
EV charging — from Jacks Creek · Idaho Power · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.9 mi straight-line NE — Walmart 2782 (Mountain Home, ID) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 38 within 100 · 54 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)19.4 mi — Mountain Home, ID - Tesla Supercharger, Mountain Home
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)33.9 mi — STAGE STOP BOISE · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 121718 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Jacks Creek · Idaho Power · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomCove Rec Site Toilet 2 - Cove Point · ~4.8 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCove Rec Site Toilet 1 - Cove Inlet Road · ~4.8 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCove Rec Site Toilet 3 - Cove Loop Road Ridgeline · ~4.9 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletCove Rec Site Vault Toilet 6 - Inland Lower Group · ~4.9 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — Jacks Creek · Idaho Power · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Side Canal as a canal or ditch (no flow class in the record), ~0.3 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.6% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Jacks Creek elsewhere
Other camps near Jacks Creek
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Crane Falls East~4.9 mi
- Little Jacks Creek Wild And Scenic River~17.1 mi
- Big Jacks Creek Wild And Scenic River~22.4 mi
- Poison Creek Picnic Site~24.1 mi
How we know this — Jacks Creek
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day stay limit)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Source (FREE stated by the OPERATOR): Idaho Power's own page for Jacks Creek (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/parks-and-campgrounds/jacks-creek/, read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'Day use and overnight camping'; 'Fees Free. No usage fees.'; 'Located off Idaho Highway 78, near milepost 74.'; 'Amenities include the following: Limited sites for overnight camping No water or electric hookups Vault toilet Fire rings Interpretive signs'; 'There is a 14-day stay limit for all parks.' Idaho Power's own fee page (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/about-parks-and-campgrounds/fees-2/, read 2026-07-28): 'Day use at all Idaho Power parks and recreation sites is free.' That page NAMES the nine campgrounds that charge overnight (Copperfield, Hells Canyon, McCormick, Woodhead, Carters Landing, North, Scout, Cottonwood, Locust -- $15-$40/night plus a $7-$15 reservation fee). This site is NOT one of them, and its own page carries the header 'Day use and overnight camping' and the fee block 'Free. No usage fees.' COORDINATE: the utility's OWN published coordinate from the Get-directions link (daddr=42.903162,-115.864221), ground-truthed against OSM -- parking way/1464914281 0.00 mi, toilets way/1464914274 0.03 mi (matching the page's vault toilet), tracks and wetland around it; Bruneau Canal 0.46 mi. Nominatim reverse: Owyhee County, Idaho, consistent with 'off Idaho Highway 78 near milepost 74'. NEAR-NAME TRAP LOGGED: Idaho Power also runs JACKS CREEK WEST (42.895822,-115.876611), which is free but DAY-USE ONLY -- its page has no overnight-camping line. Different site, 0.9 mi away; do not merge them. GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed by the operator; NO entry fee, access pass, day-use fee or permit to be on the land (utility land, not a state park -- no Discover-Pass-style trap). fee=0; dispersed=0 (designated sites); camp_type NULL for Dave to set on review. water NULL -- 'No water or electric hookups'. Ingest 2026-07-28.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Jacks Creek
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Jacks Creek
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Cold-weather camping →Reading the aerial →All field notes →