280 Forest Service, 39 BLM, 7 Army Corps and 3 National Park Service. 220 can be booked ahead
Skills Idaho tests
Backing and passing on a one-lane road, first. The Forest Service describes few turnouts on the Magruder corridor, tight switchbacks on the Elk City Wagon Road and limited sight distance on the Lolo Motorway, and its advice on all three is to travel slowly.
Then self-reliance: tire repair and a full-size spare change on soft ground, navigation without cell service, reading wet desert road before you drive onto it, and lightning judgment in July and August. Add the legal basics, because the Motor Vehicle Use Map, not the road, decides where you may drive.
Training is the cheapest upgrade there is. It costs less than a bumper, weighs nothing, and works on every vehicle you will ever own.
Common courses
01Driving: line choice, throttle and brake control, airing down, spotting
02Recovery: safe rigging, winching and kinetic recovery
03Field repair: tires, fluids, electrical faults and improvised fixes
04Navigation and communication
05Wilderness first aid
How to choose a course
Small classes and real terrain.
01Ask about class size and how much time you spend driving rather than watching.
02Ask whether you train in your own vehicle. You should.
03Ask about the instructors' certification and how long they have been teaching.
04Ask what terrain the course uses, and what to bring.
Why it is worth it
A trained driver breaks less, gets stuck less and recovers more safely. Most vehicle damage on the trail comes from speed and poor line choice, and most recovery injuries come from rigging that someone guessed at.
Questions people ask
I have driven dirt roads for years. Is a course worth it?
Most experienced drivers say the recovery day alone was worth it. Rigging a winch pull safely is not something to work out for the first time when you are stuck.
Do I need a built vehicle to attend?
No. Most introductory courses are designed for stock four-wheel-drive vehicles, and learning what a stock vehicle can do is the point.
How high is Idaho?
From Lewiston at 740 feet to Borah Peak at 12,662.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000
Feet above sea level
Towns
StanleyWhere State Highway 21 meets State Highway 75 in the Sawtooth Valley. The Salmon River and Ponderosa Pine scenic byways both start here, and the Custer Motorway leaves Highway 75 eleven miles east.6,260 ft
KetchumOn State Highway 75 at the south end of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The Sawtooth Scenic Byway climbs north from here to Galena Summit.5,844 ft
ArcoWhere US 20, US 26 and US 93 meet. The gateway town for Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve and its Loop Road.5,325 ft
ChallisOn the Salmon River Scenic Byway. BLM field office, and the north end of the Custer Motorway past the Land of the Yankee Fork interpretive center.5,246 ft
McCallOn Payette Lake north of Boise, in the Payette National Forest, which reaches east to the Frank Church-River of No Return.5,013 ft
Elk CityEnd of State Highway 14 and of the Elk City Wagon Road. The Forest Service calls it a small, full-service community with fuel; the Magruder corridor starts past Red River.4,011 ft
SalmonHeadquarters of the Salmon-Challis National Forest and a BLM field office. The BLM calls it a full-service community, and the Lewis and Clark Back Country Byway starts at Tendoy, 19 miles south.3,941 ft
Twin FallsOn I-84 above the Snake River canyon. BLM district office, with the Jarbidge Field Office, for the desert south of the highway.3,733 ft
GrangevilleOn US 95 at the edge of the Camas Prairie. State Highway 14 runs east from here toward Elk City and the west end of the Magruder Road Corridor.3,398 ft
BoiseState capital on I-84. BLM Idaho state office and Boise District, with the Four Rivers and Bruneau field offices. State Highway 21, the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, runs from here to Stanley.2,700 ft
MarsingOn the Snake River southwest of Boise. The BLM’s Owyhee Field Office, which looks after the Owyhee Uplands Back Country Byway, is in town.2,297 ft
Coeur d’AleneOn I-90 in the Panhandle. BLM district and field office, and the service town for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.2,192 ft
SandpointWhere US 95 meets US 2 north of Lake Pend Oreille. Endowment land north of the lake carries a grizzly bear food storage requirement.2,101 ft
RigginsOn US 95 where the Little Salmon meets the Salmon River, between the Payette and Nez Perce-Clearwater national forests and below the Hells Canyon rim.1,806 ft
KamiahOn US 12 beside the Clearwater River. Supervisor’s office for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests and the western approach to the Lolo Motorway.1,239 ft
LewistonWhere US 12 meets US 95 on the Snake River, close to the state’s low point of 710 feet. West end of the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway and a base for Hells Canyon.740 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Borah PeakThe highest point in Idaho, in Custer County. No road to the top12,662 ft
Galena SummitSawtooth Scenic Byway: Shoshone north through Ketchum to the Sawtooth Valley8,701 ft
Magruder Road CorridorRed River, east of Elk City, to Darby, Montana7,920 ft
Lemhi PassLewis and Clark Back Country Byway and Adventure Road: A loop from Tendoy on State Highway 28, 19 miles south of Salmon7,368 ft
Willow Creek SummitUS 93 between Mackay and Challis, below the west face of Borah Peak7,165 ft
Banner SummitPonderosa Pine Scenic Byway: Stanley to Boise on State Highway 217,056 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
