Birch Creek runs down a wide, sage-and-mountain-rimmed valley in the remote high country of eastern Idaho, and the BLM's Birch Creek Campground along its banks makes a quiet, uncrowded basecamp in one of the least-traveled corners of the state. Set between the Lemhi and Beaverhead ranges, the valley is big, open and beautifully empty, the kind of place where you can fish a clear creek all afternoon and see almost no one. Its real ace, though, is the extraordinary piece of frontier history sitting just up the valley.

Those are the Birch Creek charcoal kilns. In the late 1800s, miners working a lead and silver operation in the Lemhi Valley built sixteen beehive-shaped kilns out of local clay, roughly ten miles across the valley from the mine. Fed with local wood, the kilns produced charcoal that was hauled by horse and wagon across the valley to fire the smelters. Only four of them survive today, restored in 2000 to their original dimensions of about 20 feet high and 20 feet across, and they are genuinely striking up close, great clay domes standing alone in the sagebrush. A dirt road off Idaho Highway 28 near Birch Creek leads to the site, which has walkways and interpretive signage.

The campground itself is simple and pleasant: roughly 25 sites along the creek with picnic tables, fire rings and restrooms, plus a variety of large undeveloped camping areas south of the middle access for those who want to spread out with no facilities at all. To reach it, head south from Leadore on Idaho Highway 28 about 50 miles; the campground is on the left.

Fishing draws most visitors. Birch Creek holds an abundance of brook and rainbow trout along with some browns, and its clear, accessible water suits both first-timers with a spinning rod and seasoned fly anglers looking for an unhurried afternoon. The campground also works well as a basecamp for exploring the wider Caribou-Targhee and Salmon-Challis country, with mountains rising on both sides of the valley.

This is high, dry, remote country with long distances between services and thin to nonexistent cell coverage, so arriving fueled up and fully stocked matters, and mountain weather can turn cold and windy fast even in summer. Summer and early fall are the prime season; winter closes the valley down to a windswept expanse.

Bring plenty of water, layers, an Idaho fishing license, insect repellent for the creek bottom, and everything else you'll need to be self-sufficient. Between an easy creekside campsite, honest trout fishing, and four 140-year-old charcoal kilns standing in the sage, Birch Creek is a rewarding stop in a part of Idaho most travelers drive right past.