Some like it Hot!

When the pandemic first started in spring of 2020, and new travel restrictions went into place, I began thinking of places we could travel that were closer to home. After travel restrictions lightened a bit, but traveling on airplanes still required mask mandates, I knew that we would need to make changes for a while in our travel plans, as Josh cannot breathe with a mask on for more than about 20 minutes at a time. Since I'd already been on a quest to soak in hot springs that surround us, I began researching Idaho hot springs more in depth. I looked at several websites and began writing down lots of information. I bought a book about hot springs in the western U.S., and made lots of notes in the pages. Then I compiled data from both of those sources, as well as from blogs, articles, and individual accounts. I decided to make a "100 Idaho Hot Springs Hit List". I picked both natural and commercial springs to put on the list, but excluded many that were on private property, or public springs that required more than 5 miles to hike in to. I also excluded resorts that were over $200 a night to stay and soak at, and natural sites that didn't have soaking pools. I bought 3x5 index cards, and transferred my information from all my notes, the book, and the websites onto the cards: using green for natural hot springs, pink for commercial, and lime green for natural springs that can only be accessed via wilderness river trips (they're a unique category: you have to pay an outfitter to access them, but they're on public lands). 

I thought about how I would display all the information I'd compiled. I decided to purchase a large Idaho map, a large bulletin board, and colored map pins. At first, I was going to use colored post-it book tabs to write the name of the hot springs on, and place each by the location on the map. The problem was there were several areas with hot springs close together, and the tabs were overlapping, making it hard to see the names of each hot springs.

My second idea was to use a map pin at each hot springs location, then pin a string to the site, and place the cards with the information around the outside of the map, and have the opposite side of the string pinned to the info card. The problem with that was the strings were overlapping, and covering up other sites, and the board wasn't big enough to display them all without having a tangled mess. I'd only placed about a third of the pins/cards up before I realized this was going to be a mess when it was all said and done, so I abandoned that idea. 

My third idea was to write a small number on a piece of colored index card and attach it to the pin at each hot springs location, and have the number correspond with the number on the index card with all the information about that particular hot springs. That seemed to be the best option so far, so I began to redo the card locations, removing the strings and labeled post-it book tabs from my two previous ideas as I went:

It definitely looked more organized and less chaotic, but it was a struggle for me to fit all 100 cards around the outside of the map. I placed the bulletin board on a wall in the dining room, so that it could be viewed easily, be a topic of conversation at friend/family dinner functions, and also to keep me accountable. I like the location of it, but I'm restricted to a small amount of wall space around the actual perimeter of the bulletin board. I had to re-arrange it multiple times in order to get all 100 cards on it, without losing the integrity or sights of the map! I also couldn't overlap the cards, because the plan is to cover each of the cards surrounding the map with a photo of the hot springs after we visit them. I liked the idea of this visual Hit List, because the board will constantly be changing.

This is only 70 out of 100 cards, so I had to start over.

This was my 2nd attempt at making them all fit:
all 100 are there, but there's two rows of cards
under the board on the wall. Those 2 rows were
harder to read because of how low they were,
so I changed it once more a week later.

The final product! It's a tight squeeze between
the window frame and the corner on either side
of the bulletin board, but I got all 100 cards to 
fit, and in a more stylish, readable way. 

This is a close-up of the color-and-number
coordinated map pins on the final product.

Josh and I usually only take trips that are one or two nights at a time, due to his summer working schedule, and my teaching schoolyear schedule. We have found that we really like taking these short trips together, and that we like being flexible and spontaneous while on the trips. We have begun to visit hot springs while on these short trips, previously as a side trip on the way to/from a planned destination, but now the hot springs have also become the reason for these trips and are, more often than not, the intended destination. We visited several hot springs in August, especially because I'd recently hung up my new Hot Springs Hit List map: I was really motivated to start discovering some of the beauty in our state!

On one such trip in August, we drove Josh's dad Edward to the Boise Airport to pick up his mom Kathy after her week-long trip to Hawaii. We spent the night at a hotel in Boise, and then Josh and I drove back to Salmon the next day, stopping at several hot springs along the way. We visited Ten Mile Hot Springs by Lowman, which was a beautiful, peaceful hot springs along the South Fork of the Payette River. We had to hike less than a mile to reach it, and had to walk through one river crossing after parking the car. We had the springs to ourself, which was nice. We enjoyed soaking while listening to the river flow right next to us. Afterwards, we hiked back, and then drove around some areas of Lowman we hadn't seen before. It was lovely, and we plan to camp there in the future. 

Ten Mile Hot Springs

Lowman Nature Ponds

We stopped again at Stanley. We found the Snake Pit Hot Springs behind the Museum. We both knew for years there was a hot springs in that area between Stanley and Lower Stanley, and were glad to finally find it! And once again we were lucky enough to have it to ourselves! After our soak there, we stopped a few miles later at Cove Hot Springs, which is right along the Salmon River. I'd been there in June, but it had totally changed by August after the water levels dropped, so it was a different pool than I'd been able to soak in on my previous time there.  

Snake Pit Hot Springs

Cove Hot Springs

We stopped to eat dinner at the Sawmill Station near Clayton. It was so yummy! We love visiting small mom-and-pop stores and restaurants. The Sawmill was recently sold and under new management, and we loved the feel of the place even more than we did before!

Our next road trip also included some hot springs, but just as a side trip again. We drove to Mud Lake to watch the pig show at the fair (and see several of my former students). We had lunch at the fair, and then we drove to Challis to see the first day's performers at BBR. We drove back along the Howe-Pahsimeroi highway, and stopped at the Barney Hot Springs. We've talked for years about stopping at this place, even though we'd gone down that highway many times and never stopped at it before. We were the only ones there, which is always a fun surprise, and we sat on camp chairs and soaked our feet in the springs for a while. Something unique about these springs is that there are tropical fish living in the pond. It was such a unique sensation to have fish bite at the skin on your feet!

A few days later, the boys helped me move my classroom boxes and furniture into my new classroom in Leadore, and we took them to soak at Sharkey Hot Springs--one of our favorite local spots. We haven't been there as much in the past year or so, ever since we got our own hot tub, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon with the boys after working together. 

On our next trip the Hot Springs WERE the destination. We stayed overnight at a rustic cabin at Sawtooth Lodge in the historic area of Grandjean. We'd never been there before, and it was so fun to see a new area of the state that (once again) we'd driven by many times. The Lodge includes a hot springs pool that we soaked in that night and the following morning. We also ate a simple dinner and breakfast there, too. It was a nice, laid-back place. 

The Lodge is the building in the back.

After we checked out, we drove down the road a few miles and walked along the river and soaked in several of the pools known as Sacajawea Hot Springs

Our next hot springs were only about five miles away on Highway 21. We've been wanting to stop at  Bonneville Hot Springs for years, but it was never the right season or we never had enough time. These springs are gorgeous! There was also a little bath house there too, but it was WAY too hot to soak in on a warm summer day. The springs weren't very busy that day, and we got to soak in lot of different natural rock-walled tubs along the Warm Springs Creek. We would definitely go there again! 

On the way back, we stopped at Mountain Village to eat snacks for a late lunch on the way home. We had spicy cheese curds, nachos, and churro ice cream. It was all yummy! Then we soaked again at the Snake Pit Hot Springs and the Mountain Village Hot Springs, too, since they're right by each other. Hitting up the Mountain Village Springs was the final one that we hadn't been to in the Stanley, so that felt awesome to wrap up that area on the map!!

Mountain Village Hot Springs

Our very favorite natural hot springs is Cronk's Canyon. It's not usually very busy, it's easily accessible (about 40 minutes from our house), and it's very private. We go there quite often. When I was working on organizing my new classroom in Leadore at the end of August, and I was working long, hard days, Josh took me to Cronk's Canyon one evening as a way to de-stress and relax.