Birthdaying at Burgdorf and da Baum

We've started a little tradition for Josh's birthday the last few years: go on an overnight mini retreat, and soak in hot springs. 

In 2018, we stayed at a hotel in Idaho Falls with an en-suite jacuzzi before he went to visit Ammon for Dad's Weekend in Moscow. Josh's Birthday 2018

In 2019, we went to Elkhorn Hot Springs in Montana. It was our first time staying in rustic lodging. You can read about it HERE (in addition to other events that happened that month). 

In 2020, we went to Elkhorn again. It was a VERY different experience than we'd had the year before.  To be more clear, it was a traumatic experience of my doing, albeit accidental. It was one of the those experiences that you never can forget. You can read about it, or refresh yourselves about it, HERE.

So, we decided this year that we were NOT going to replay what happened last year by going to Elkhorn for the 3rd year in a row; we wanted to go somewhere else. Since making my Hot Springs Hit List last summer, we knew we wanted to try another hot springs with lodging in Idaho. Josh still likes rustic lodging, so we decided to go to Burgdorf, which is on the western side of the state near McCall. We'd both been thinking of going there for a while, but neither of us had been there yet.

We left on Friday for the several-hour drive. It was a nice fall day, and we stopped on the northern end of Payette Lake for some photos on the way. We hadn't seen this part of the lake for 20 years!

Burgdorf is pretty remote, and we lucked out because this is the time of year that they're not busy--after the summer crowds, but before the winter sets in and you can only access it via snowmobile. They have made some restrictions since COVID, like limiting the number of people soaking at a time and showing proof of your Covid vaccinations. Thankfully, Josh had recently gotten the vaccine last fall, so we were good to go. 

We stayed at the cabin titled "Busby". It was a cute little cabin with a wood stove in it. There was no running water inside it, but there was a private outhouse right by it. You can also shower at the hot springs facilities. There was no electricity in the cabin, but there was some battery-operated, remote-controlled lights which was nice. This lodging was also unique because you have to bring your own bedding--that was a new one that we've not encountered before. We packed sleeping bags, pillows, and our camping propane grill because the lodge doesn't have a restaurant on-site and only has limited food, especially this time of year. 

After we checked in, and got everything unpacked in our cabin, we walked down the path to the hot springs pool. There's a large pool, two smaller hotter tubs, and a tub located in the overflow of the pool with a pipe that constantly flows. It was pretty quiet that first evening in the pool--there weren't a lot of other people soaking with us, which was nice.

Josh grilled us some steaks for dinner after our soak, and we read books in bed until we both fell asleep. The next morning, we took a morning dip in the pools and then took a day excursion to the end of the Warren Wagon Road to see the historic ghost mining town of Warren. We drove down the tiny Main Street, and stopped for lunch at the Baum Shelter. We lucked out because their regular season ended the following day before they close down for the winter. The food was super delicious, and we liked the feel of the old building inside. 

On our drive back, we drove around an old mining sight to find an abandoned dredge that somebody who we'd soaked with the previous night told us about. After driving around a maze of gravel paths among large dredging remains, we finally found it! Josh loves checking out old mines and mining remans.  

We ate a light dinner back at our cabin, and took an evening soak before reading the night way in bed once again. It was very relaxing and peaceful! 

This tree was right outside our cabin on our way
to our private outhouse. It looked like a butt
formed on it!!

One of the great things about staying at one of the cabins at Burgdorf is you have 24 hour access to the hot pools. That night, around midnight, we walked down the path to the pool, and had a soak all to ourselves. It was very cold that night, so the steam rising from the pool was really thick. As we were soaking, snow began to fall on our faces. It was so magical, and one of my favorite moments from the trip! There were a few light strings on the nearby buildings, and the subtle light reflecting off the snow and billowing steam, was just so dreamy! The next morning, the world around us was covered in a blanket of snow. Just like last year's birthday retreat: when we went to bed it was fall, but when we woke up it looked like winter had appeared!

It was so beautiful! We felt so blessed to be a witness of what winter looks like at Burgdorf without having to drive a snowmobile there in the middle of winter!

The path leading from our cabin to the pool.

We walked back to the pool for one last morning swim on Sunday morning (Josh's actual birthday) before we left to start the long drive back to Salmon. 

We both LOVED our stay at Burgdorf and would definitely go there again!

On our way home, we stopped at Sunbeam Hot Springs, so that Josh could soak in the tubs that I soaked in by myself last summer on my lone drive to Boise to pick up the twins from Boys State. We'd both soaked in the natural rock-pools in the river before on the west side of the building, but we didn't know the larger wooden tubs on the eastern side of the building existed before last summer! We had the spot all to ourselves, which was fun! We only soaked for about 10 minutes, but it was a good stop to break up the drive. I love discovering and exploring different hot springs across our state with this guy! Happy Birthday, Josh! You're my favorite adventure partner!