Idaho Parks and Recreation maintains several yurts across the state. These are circular, Mongolian-style domed tents. Every park yurt is about 20 feet in diameter with a plywood floor, canvas and hardwood sidewalls and a skylight. Each yurt can sleep up to five or six people and is built to withstand high winds, snow loads and summer heat.
Our good friends, reserved the Banner Ridge yurt on February 17 and 18 and invited us to come along. Two of my children and I accompanied my friend and his 4 kids for our first-ever stay in a yurt. The yurt is located just off a high ridge in a protected north-facing bowl. Looking north and down over 3000 feet in elevation you can see the South Fork of the Payette River, Bear Valley, and Scott Mountain. At 6500 feet (at the summit on the way there), the view of the Sawtooth Mountains is great.
We had decent roads most of the way, though Highway 21 started getting snow covered as we traveled north from Idaho City.
We saw a few smiles and dubious looks from others in the parking area as we loaded up 6 kids (ages 12 to 8) with snowshoes, sleds, and backpacks in some cases. The hike to the yurt is listed as 2 miles with about 750 feet of elevation gain.
It was a beautiful day and the temperatures were in the high 30s or low 40s (really a little too hot for snowshoeing uphill).
We were all happy to finish the climb and arrive at the yurt.
This yurt has beds for 6 people (2 sets of bunkbeds and a couch that folds out and will sleep two). The kids claimed the beds and the dads got the plywood floor.
The yurt is stocked with dishes (we just used our typical backpacking set up), a two-burner stove that runs on the 1-lb Coleman propane bottles and a wonderful wood stove and skylight. It also has solar powered lights with an impressive battery system. When we walked in from our hike, it was about 70 degrees inside.
The skylight (it can be vented or closed tightly)
The area has a nice setup with a gray water drain (for your dish water) about a 100 feet or so from the yurt. Just beyond that is an outhouse without a door, but with a heck of a view.
After about 4 hours of sleep, we woke up to a snowy and cooler day. The hike back down to the parking area was a lot easier and we all returned safely home with great experiences to remember.
