June Excursions

June was a strange month this year. Because Salmon school got out late (2 weeks into June), it felt like summer was half over before it even started! And then once the summer DID finally start, Josh and the twins had to work a LOT to make up for the time they were gone the first two weeks of June! This is why I worked on projects so much in June: because I was at home alone SO MUCH! Thankfully, Josh and I were able to squeeze in a few fun trips into June, so that it felt more like summer should feel!

After we drove the boys to Pocatello on Sunday June 6 to meet up with the Boys State Bus at 7am (we had to leave home before 4am to get there!), Josh and I decided to drive back home a different way. We got off the freeway at Blackfoot, then took the highway that cuts up through the INL site, ventured over to Howe, and up through Pahsimeroi. We were in the truck, because we'd taken some bunk beds and dropped them off at his sister's house in Pocatello, so we decided to do a little exploring off the highway in the Pahsimeroi Valley. We checked out a couple different campsites, and did some off-roading to find some trails. It was pretty adventurous...and I got nervous a couple times that we were going to get stuck, which made me extra nervous because we were out of cell coverage area and nobody knew where we were, but thankfully we never did! I was SO exhausted from waking up so early that morning, so anytime we stopped for Josh to do some exploring on foot, I stayed in the truck and slept! It was a beautiful day, though, and I'm glad we took our time getting home. It was nice to spend time with Josh driving around our pretty state!

Do you see the red truck? That's where I'm sleeping!

When I went to pick up the twins from Boys State in Boise the following Friday (June 11th), I decided to make a trip out of it then, too. I stopped at 3 hot springs on the way to soak in, before arriving at Gowen Field for their graduation ceremony that evening. I stopped at Sunbeam, and soaked in the box tubs that are to the east of the building. I've only soaked in the river pools to the west of the building before, so this was a first! There was a couple just getting out as I was walking down the trail to get in. The lady had been walking around barefoot and stepped on some broken glass in the water, so they were wrapping up her foot and they left just as I got in! It was perfect timing! The water was super hot, but there was a bucket in between the pools that I dipped in the river several times and poured the cold water into the box tub that I sat in, and that made it bearable for me to soak in for about 5 minutes...just long enough to say I did it!

I stopped again just a few miles before Lower Stanley, and soaked in the Cove Hot Springs that's right below a bend on the highway. I've noticed it several times, but have never stopped there, so that was also a first. Because the river water was still high, most of the soaking pools were under water. There were only 2 pools right below the hot water source that were warm enough to sit in, and they were both really shallow. I put my feet in and sat on the edge for a few minutes listening to the river water flow, and I was the only one there, so it was another enjoyable short stop!

My 3rd stop along the drive was at a hot spring north of Crouch. I'd never turned off at Crouch before, but I have been so curious about it for 20 years, and I'm glad I finally got to see it! It was very freeing to be alone and to go where I wanted, and see what I wanted, and to not worry about anyone else! I drove on a dirt road for over 10 miles north of Crouch to go see Rocky Canyon hot springs. You pull over at a turnout along the dirt road, walk down a short steep trail to the river, and then you have to walk through the Payette River to the opposite side to where the tiered soaking pools were. It was pretty busy, which surprised me. There were 4 pools: the hottest was at the top, the next hottest was below it, then there was a warm pool below that, and finally a pool in the actual river. The highest tub was filled with a bunch of college-age guys, so I sat in the next hottest pool with a man and his 2 young daughters. We watched two large family groups cross the river with dogs, toddlers, and elderly people. It was a crazy sight! I only soaked for about 20 minutes, but it was definitely worth it, and I would go there again!  

The hot springs are in the section of gravel in the
center of the trees directly across the river.

You can see people crossing the river across
from my view. The section by the downed tree
was pretty swift and tricky to manage!

After I picked up Jonah and Micah from Boys State, we stayed overnight in a hotel in Boise, ate breakfast with their cousins Lexi & Maddie on Saturday morning, and headed back towards Salmon. We stopped at Stanley to say hello to Aunt Janet, and then we stopped again at Clayton where we met up with Josh. Josh had worked all day Friday and the morning on Saturday in Salmon, and then he packed up the Jeep to go camping and exploring. The twins dropped me off with him, and they continued on to Salmon while Josh and I explored Sunbeam, Custer, and the Custer Motorway, which neither of us had seen before, and we had no idea there was even a dredge up that way! It was such a fun overnighter adventure! We toured the dredge, walked around the ghost townsite and cemetery of Bonanza, did a walking tour of the town of Custer, and camped overnight at a Forest Service campsite. We even had the campground to ourselves! The next morning we drove up to Challis Creek Lakes--the road was pretty rough, but we slowly made it all the way up. We drove back down to Mosquito Flat Reservoir, stopping at all the Motorway signs on the self-guided tour, and we stopped at another campground for Josh to grill us some steaks for dinner, and then we drove home. It was one of my favorite trips we took this summer! 

This sign cracks me up! "Speed Bump" with a picture of a person?!

There was some strange information on several
headstones: this one was my favorite!!

Mosquito Flat Reservoir

Challis Creek Lakes

Our camping equipment got pretty dusty in the back
of the Jeep from the bumpy road we drove on
to get up to the lakes.

Over Father's Day weekend, Josh went on his first motorbike adventure of the summer. He went up 12 Mile and rode along the single track over to the top of McDevitt Creek. From there, he drove over into Haynes Creek, and down Kadletz Creek all the way to Highway 28. He continued along the backroad towards Salmon, and then drove in the borrow pit on Highway 93 to get back to our house. He'd never been on the 12 Mile single track before, and he'd been wanting to for a while. His challenge was to figure out how to make a loop of it, so that he wouldn't have to turn around and come back the same way he went up. After a few different attempts of riding around in different directions amongst the thick trees, he figured it out, so the solo trip was a success!