Nip & Tuck Road Dispersed Camping

10 Day Max
Excellent choice for dispersed camping above Stanley, ID and within Sawtooth NF.
Depending on the season, Expect some ATV, MTB, Dirt Bike, Electric Bike traffic.
Large RVs and Coaches are limited to the lower sections off of Highway 21 just beyond the bridge.
Nip and Tuck Rd becomes quite narrow and less improved, as you ascend; with off camber sections and some rutting. Vans, and taller suspension trailers can get up on the ridge - this is where you will get the most rewarding views as well as cell service. There are pullouts and vague access points to parking spots. Once on top, the road will continue S/SE until you descend back to Highway 75 into Lower Stanley. THE ROAD GETS VERY NARROW, TIGHT AND NOWHERE TO TURN AROUND>so be aware of your surroundings.
Otherwise, one of my favorite locations, yet.

We are full-timers and have a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and had scouted the area before arriving with the RV. The roads in to this area, NF-563/Stanley Creek Rd and NF-633/Nip and Tuck Road are in pretty decent shape for all vehicles coming in from the West off of Hwy 21, but be warned, do not come in from the East on NF-633/Nip and Tuck Road off of Hwy 75 as just a short distance in, there is deep and narrow wash across the road that will likely ruin the underside of your RV unless you have a very high clearance vehicle. There are many dispersed sites around along the road, but most were taken when we arrived, and only a few facing Stanley have cell service. We found a decent site (44.2382, -114.9692), a little off of the main road, with a great view of the Sawtooth Range and the valley. The site sloped a bit from side to side, but we were able to get mostly level. There were a few flies around during the daytime, but not the biting kind, just annoying. Mosquitos were an issue only in the evenings. There are a number of hiking trails in the surrounding area. AT&T service was fair with 2-3 bars of LTE and speeds up to about 1.5 MB/s. T-Mobile service was good with 3 bars of 4G/LTE and speeds up to about 1.3 MB/s We were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. Also, there were no OTA channels to be had with our fixed omni antenna.

I stayed here for a couple of weeks leading up to the 2017 Eclipse (this spot was in the path of totality). That actual weekend, I left, but I got a pretty good feel for some variation of what this long road has to offer.

There was pretty consistently some other campers spread out around the road, but I easily found a spot when I arrived. Even just before the weekend of the eclipse, going up and down the road, I spotted a good handful of open spots remaining, but the traffic was pretty predictably increasing at a steady amount.

This spot is awesome if you have a small rig (like me). Even maybe some on the lower end of medium should have a pretty easy time. With larger rigs, it's going to get harder and harder. Most of the established campsites that we should all stick to are certainly for the smaller variety, with a spread out handful for larger rigs. With the smaller rigs, it should be easy enough to find a spot with an awesome view of the Sawtooths, as well as cell service (or not, if you prefer otherwise). With a larger rig, it's going to be hit or miss on both accounts.

The spot that I snagged was awesome: I had more than enough room in addition to easily parking for ideal sunlight on the solar panels. The view of the Sawtooths was amazing, and I had great TMobile 4G--it would sometimes switch between HSPA+ and LTE, but both were effective at streaming TV/movies the entire time I was there. I only got Extended Network on Verizon, but it was a rather fast version of that for the most part (I mostly stuck to my TMobile hotspot, so I can't say exactly how fast, but social media and some light browsing worked great). The campsite itself was almost entirely level, with only the fire ring placement someone else did being kind of awful--it was right in the middle, basically cutting the whole site in half.

Other spots aren't going to be quite as good in all, if any of those ways. Cell service is remarkably spotty, and the size and quality of the sites seems to vary quite a bit. While my spot was quite clean, a couple others seemed to be less so as I passed by. I really think the whole road is beautiful, but not all have that Sawtooths view. I enjoyed walking up and down the road, exploring some of the spur roads and trails that break off of it. Spots will vary in the amount of shade vs sunlight throughout the day just as much as they vary in anything else as well. There's also some spots that tent campers could walk out to, if you can find a reasonable parking spot, for some of the best views.

How much noise varied drastically. When I first arrived, it was amazingly quiet. Closer to the eclipse, there was a lot of traffic going up and down the road, making more noise. Most of the Idaho plates were wonderfully friendly and I can't say any noise they made actually bothered me ever (I can't say the same of everyone with out of state plates, unfortunately).

When I drove up and down the road, I had some varying feelings about it. The road is generally pretty skinny and long, with some stretches that don't really offer a great spot to pull over if you run into someone going the opposite way or even just someone on a bicycle. The East side of the road had some pretty deep holes in it which took going slower and more cautious over/around. The West side of the road seemed pretty consistently busier, though it had less holes and more turnouts.

Overall, it's on my list of places that I'll certainly consider staying at again. It makes an awesome spot to kick off from on exploring the Sawtooth Wilderness, and is just a lovely spot to camp that fit my needs, getting the right spot to begin with. It is somewhat of a gamble, but I would have stayed the full 16 days, through the eclipse, if I didn't want to go backpacking instead. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the gamble it can be during a busy season, if you have particular needs.

Most access points are signed for no vehicles. Anything bigger than a van will find just 1-2 sites off the road and none with a Sawtooth view. The road is fairly busy in summer with ranchers, ATV, joggers, Mtn bikes, car tours, and the locals like to target practice here too (at least on 2 of our 3 days). The road as is okay when dry. There are much better places around Stanley to camp.