Idaho 5 - The End of the Journey

With a sigh of relief, we packed up the tools from our building project, put them in our new storage, and prepared to return to my sister Cheryl’s place. But before calling it a day, we decided to go to a local hot spring for a swim and soak our tired muscles, or at least my tired muscles.

Idaho is blessed with many hot springs – some are more exploited for commercial purposes and some are just large holes full of hot water. Though I love the latter, this one sort of fits into the former category. It’s pretty basic but I sort of like it that way. It has a large and small pool pools sourced from natural mineral water fed by an artesian well and is cooled by the waters of the Little Salmon River. The small pool apparently averages around 104-105 degrees F. (around 40 degrees C.). It’s open year-round and we’ve been there mid-winter when you have to walk across snow to get in. Very cool.

One interesting fact is that they, and our property, are located within the Nez Perce Tribe’s (Nimiipuu) native territory once referred to as Chinook Meadows. The area holds historical and cultural significance for the tribe. The Nez Perce people used the hot springs for survival in the harsh winters but also for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. They were also used to fashion bows from the horns of bighorn sheep where the hot water softened the horn and made it easier to work and shape. Even today, the Nez Perce consider the waters to have significant spiritual, cultural and medicinal values.

View from the hot springs.

While we were speaking with the neighbors we have adjacent to our property, they told us that many arrowheads have been found on our land and that the place had fire rings that possibly dated back to the days when the Nez Perce were the occupants of the area. Cool thought (and yet a very sad thought).

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The next day, our last in the mountains, we spent the day/night in McCall at my sister’s other house. We took an early evening pontoon boat ride on the Payette Lake and then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

We were able to get an early start the next day, Friday, to make our way back to Boise where we would stay at my other sister CJ’s house again. We would have several errands to run before catching our flight Tuesday morning. In between the errands, we were able to catch some of the air show on Saturday and then again on Sunday.

Our last hurrah was dinner at my other sister, Lisa’s. It’s where we/I normally stay when we’re in Boise so we feel quite at home there. 

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In the end, I think we were all happy to get on the plane and return to our routines. The girls were subjected to too many weeks away from kids their own age. It’s important at this period in their lives. They do well with smaller children and grown-ups, but it’s obviously not the same.

Summer in Boise.