Hot Springs on the Salmon

Often I search my photos expecting to find images that reside only inside my head. After Trekking Nepal, I was sure I shot a photo of broken slats in the swinging bridge we crossed. Fear seared the image to my brain, but I had no photo. Well that's true for today's post. I expected I had shots from Royal Gorge, ID and the little resort we stayed at. Lovely location on the Salmon River with Greg the host being so accommodating. His multi-income site is an anthem to entrepreneurship. I loved the sunset there and was sure I shot up the canyon into the reds of the cliff and the pinks in the sky. Let me check again, but no, it's like that slat photo, only in my head. There goes my dream of being a photojournalist. First, shoot the photo!

I did locate the website which has a few photos: http://www.royalgorgeresort.com/

Greg has some cute little cabins, a bench by the river for five or six RVs, a shop across the highway, hiking trails, hot springs in two locations, a guide service for fishing and rafting, a small store for supplies and probably he could repair your boots too. His hot springs were challenging to find and proved more difficult to negotiate an entrance than I'm used to after the backyard spa. Cute, but... There was only one other RV and no cabin folks while we were there.

At Challis Hot Springs we stopped again. Maybe it was 50 miles up the Salmon and of course right on the river. Hard not to like a river that yields all that pink fish! We wandered around the valley and found the site after a near circle from the town of Challis, ID. More people and a wonderful, hot, hot pool and a cooler pool too. The strange encounter with the host about sent us down the road. First question was about our reservation we didn't have. Ok, I don't make many reservations, one this past summer, so I thought they were full. Next she said we could wait until 2PM and she could get us in. Recall that we drove only 50 miles and it was maybe 10 AM? The food service they advertised was only for the B & B people, so that was out, but we could go swim if we wanted. Next, she reconsidered, after staring at the register, and told us there was one site we could have. The camp was nearly empty then and less than half full by the end of the night! What was that about? This great site could use an upgrade in ownership.








The first photo shows you the top of Royal Gorge, see there nearly was a photo! They were all taken at Challis Hot Springs, which was great place to laze about in hot water and chat with nice fellow traveler from AK, CO, OR etc. As the geology in the photos indicates, this is a tortured place and no doubt the reason for all the hot water. The guy on the ground explained they had to drill all over the place to get enough cool water to cool down the pools and provide drinking water. It's likely this was that same hot spot now residing under Yellowstone. Maybe a geologist relative will set me right on this thinking.