Today might have been the best day of the trip so far, though Ian questions this as there was no fishing involved in today’s adventures.
We were the first people to arrive at Boat Box Hot Springs, about 20 minutes from our campsite. This was lucky as there was only one pull out parking spot and only room for five butts in the soaking tubs. It was an incredible experience. The steaming hot water poured out from hot springs in the riverside and was funnelled via white plastic pipes into two soaking tubs located on the river’s edge. This hot water was mixed with the icy cold river water to make tubs of warm water, perfect for a morning soak. What an insanely cool experience. We soaked for almost an hour, until we were prunes.
After picking up our trailer from the campground (we decided to move on early since we were surrounded by campers running super noisy generators and it was 1 degree C so too cold for paddle boarding), we picked up coffee at the Sawtooth Coffee Company and continued on our hot springs adventure.
Cove Creek Hot Springs was a bust because the river was so high that the pools created by rock walls at the river’s edge (meant to keep the hot water in) were actually completely underwater.
We had more success with Sunbeam Hot Springs. This one was a steaming cliffside reminiscent of Yellowstone. The natural pools were likewise submerged in the river here but the boys loved the square pool where hot and river water could be mixed.
The brunch spot we found today at Upper O’Brien Campground was much quieter than our campground with only the rushing river as a soundtrack. After eating, we drove through gorgeous landscapes - perhaps the nicest of the trip so far. Driving beside the creek and weaving through the mountains was amazing.
Our drive culminated at the Goldbug Hot Springs trailhead near Salmon, ID. This was a 6km return hike to hot springs pools located on a mountain side. In terms of a payoff for a challenging hike, this one takes the cake. It was next level. We all gave it 10/10. We tried many of the different pools; they were hotter towards the top and got cooler as we went down the mountain. Liam eventually found us the perfect temperature pool - a mixture of cold waterfall water and piping hot spring water - that fit the whole family. We soaked and relaxed and emerged rejuvenated for the hike back down the mountain side.
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| Cold waterfall on the left, hot springs on the right. |
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| We can see our trailer! Finally - home sweet home. |
Following the hike, we passed the 45th parallel and continued on towards Montana. The landscape abruptly changed from sand and sage brush covered hills (did you know sage bushes are actually really tall? They look so small from the car.) to dense, verdant forests of absolutely enormous conifers.
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| Sage brush as tall as Seamus. |
We pulled over exactly on the Idaho-Montana border (complete fluke) for a quiet night spent at the forest’s edge.
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| We’re the blue dot! |
