Craters of the Moon and Challis Hot Springs

Post Pinedale

The campground was pretty empty Tuesday morning. Stan and Jerre left going in one direction while Rob and I went the other. Our destination was Arco, Idaho and the Craters of the Moon National Monument. We had reservations for two nights at Mountain View RV Park requesting a 50 amp spot with access for our satellite. We weren't guaranteed either, but they said they would try.  At check in the clerk spent some time looking over the booking sheet trying to accommodate our requests. Their system for keeping track of reservations and where they slotted rigs is somewhat primitive (i.e. not computerized). While she was looking, a group of 5 or 6 RVers pulled in behind our rig, blocking the street. Another clerk checked them in, but they could go nowhere with our rig totally blocking entrance to the park. After several minutes we gave up looking for 50 amps and took a site with 30 as long as it had satellite access. We were assured satellite would not be a problem. 30 amps is generally fine, except it was blistering hot and we could only run one air conditioner. I know…boo hoo!   

We located our site only to find it at the end of a dead end path and occupied by a pickup truck. We couldn’t back up without disconnecting the toad and even then we would have had to back up 100’ or more. So, Rob headed to the office for help. I located a park handyman who jumped in the truck and moved it. He knew the keys were in it because it belonged to the owner. We finally got situated only to find our slides inches away from trees on both sides of the rig and our satellite totally blocked. At that point we decided to shorten our stay to one night. Leaving in the morning was going to be a challenge. When the time finally came, the camper in front of us departed leaving an opening for Rob to pull in and jockey around the trees and other rigs. As we left, I counted at least ten open spots with clear satellite access. We probably won’t visit this park again.

We spent that afternoon driving the auto-tour route through Craters of the Moon National Monument. This is an immense lava field covering 750,000 acres. While volcanic in origin, there is no volcano present. “The lava issued from a series of deep fissures – known collectively as the Great Rift-that cross the Snake River Plain.” The rift is 52 miles long. Scientists date the eruptions beginning 15,000 years ago with the most recent activity a mere 2000 years ago. The area is still active leading geologists to believe future events are likely. Many of the features are similar to those which occur from an actual volcano, i.e. cinder cones, spatter cones, pahoehoe lava (smooth, rope-like floes), lava tubes and caves. It was very hot in the afternoon. The ranger told us the highest temperature recorded on the lava fields was 175 degrees.

Dwarf Buckwheat has a root system larger than 3 '

Cinder cone. The white spot is a person

Spatter cone

Pahoehoe

We left early the next day hoping to make McCall, Idaho our next stop, but when we called for reservations they were full. Checking the map I saw that Challis, Idaho was on our route and had a few RV parks listed under RVParkReviews.com. I called the Challis Hot Springs Resort and RV park and successfully reserved two nights. We were only about 50 miles away when I connected with them.

This park is outstanding!!! It is far off the beaten path sandwiched between high peaks and the Salmon River. As we approached the entrance we spied two female big horn sheep perched on a rock outcrop above our heads. The office is in the B&B and they were ready for us. The site assigned to us fronted on the river and was long enough for the RV with the car parked behind. All of the sites are gravel laid out in a grassy meadow. We immediately decided to extend our stay to three nights.

The B&B/Office

This deer swam across the Salmon River right in front of our RV

Marmot peeking over the bank of the river

The highlights of the park are a hot pool and a not so hot pool. The hot pool is about 30’x30’ and between 105-107 degrees. The not so hot pool is about 20’x50’ and between 98-101 degrees. The water seeps up through gravel bottoms from hot springs. The not so hot pool is drained every night and fresh water seeps in overnight. We didn’t see a mechanism for draining the hot pool, but we presume it too was drained daily. We made use of both of these every evening. On our first evening in the pool we started a conversation with a couple from Idaho Falls. Rob asked if they by chance knew a Jan Brown (Rob’s cousin living in IF). Glen, (he had introduced himself) said he knew her well. That precipitated further conversation and we discovered Glen is a Master Naturalist very conversant in birding. We spent so long talking about birding with him we got kicked out of the pool. It closed at 9:00 and they needed to drain it. We returned the next night and picked up our conversation with Glen and with his wife. Jan will probably never forgive her cousin for spilling the beans on her early life.

Day two we set out to see some of the area. As we left the park we stopped to identify a few birds that were circling a small pond. A little further on, a small herd of female and baby bighorn sheep were grazing in a pasture adjacent to the park. They seemed unconcerned when we stopped to take pictures, but a few decided they’d had enough of our ogling and calmly jumped the fence and trotted up the rocky outcrops. We continued on our way, stopping at an excavation site which had left a cliff now occupied by hundreds of bank swallows. This is one swallow we had not encountered before so we stopped long enough for Rob to take a few thousand photos.

Big Horn Sheep

Bank Swallow nests

We continued on through “town” to the “Custer Motorway Adventure Road”.

Challis is barely a town. It’s really more of a village and even that is an overstatement. It had what we needed tho’…a grocery store and a liquor store. Our wine supply was dwindling.

The Custer Motorway begins at the end of the main (only) road through the town of Challis. A graded, dirt road, it winds through the historic Yankee Fork Mining District. Challis was founded in 1876 as a supply center for area mines. The bi-weekly supply runs took nine hours. Part of the journey involved climbing a steep hill requiring extra horses as well as a change of horses part way up the slope. One enterprising individual constructed a toll road along part of the way to the mines. Four stations were established along the route offering accommodations and meals for travelers. Remnants of some of the buildings are still present. The town of Custer was established in 1879 at the base of the mountains where the gold was being mined. By 1911 it became a virtual ghost town and is preserved as a tourist attraction today. In 1940 a dredge was built on the Yankee Fork (of the Salmon River). It was shut down in 1942 because of WWII. It was restarted in 1945 and operated until 1952. Over 6.3 million cubic yards of stream gravel was mined leaving behind 5 ½ miles of tailings. $1,037,322 in gold and silver was recovered at an estimated cost of $1,076,100.

Gold dredge

 

Remnants of an old station

More remnants

 

Deer on tailings