Old Fort Boise RV Park

We arrived at the Exit 3 only to find it closed. Now we are glad it wasn’t open. This is a nice small City Park. Roy’s Burger next to the park was good. The restrooms were closed and locked. Park is well maintained. Only two others there the night we stayed. Pay station at the sign. Dump station was out of order. Sites have water and power (50/30/15 AMP)

We stumbled upon Old Fort Boise RV Park while rolling down Hwy 20 East towards Boise. Located on the edge of the small town of Parma, ID, it is a small, inexpensive, convenient RV Park. While I wouldn't call it a 'destination', it's great for an overnight or few.

There are 9 gravel spaces, 3 of which can readily accommodate big rigs (I would guess up to 45'). One site is a pull through which could accommodate set-ups that are even larger. Since there is no host on site, and no one seems to care how creative one gets, you could probably sardine a big rig into a smaller site if necessary. We witnessed a triple tow set up just park in the driveway/entrance area for a few days rather than attempt to shove himself into one of the sites. Nobody seemed to mind. Police patrols drove through the park once or twice each day, and park services changed the trash cans daily. Water and 30A hook-ups are available at all the the legitimate sites. The dump station is clean and spacious, and there were no fees posted for use.

The park is right off (~300ft) Hwy 20, so traffic noise is pretty constant. Since it's a bi-way, it's not terribly loud; just enough to keep you awake during the day and make sure you don't sleep in late. There is an onion packaging plant right across the street, making for free onion picking along the road. As trucks make the turn into the onion company lot, the occasional onion rolls off a rig. Go ahead, gather those onions. Your only regret will be that you don't carry a deep fryer on board your own rig.

Old Fort Boise RV Park is beside a replica of Old Fort Boise, which is apparently open for a few hours on Fridays. We didn't notice any change in the status of the gates to the fortress during our Friday spent at the fort, so we are unable to confirm the legitimacy of these posted hours. We were too busy gathering onions from alongside the road.

There is also a decently sweet playground at the park, as well lawn sprinklers that tended to go off at strange hours of the day. I you time the sprinklers correctly, they could potentially be used for entertainment/cooling off or rig cleaning purposes. Tent camping is also permitted at the park, so if you go that route, just be ready for the sprinklers.

We checked out the bathrooms for the sole purpose of being able to report on them. I wish we hadn't; they were visually pretty nasty. But hey, they are there. And usable. And had toilet paper and running water.

Solid Verizon cell service without a booster; a rare gem when traveling Hwy 20 through Idaho.

The town of Parma has a Drive-In Theatre, a library, a few restaurants, a coffee shop, gas, a post office and a grocery store. The back roads connecting to town are incredibly scenic, rolling gently through miles of onion farms; a road runner or walker's paradise.