Although I don’t have an exact itinerary before I leave I usually look at the map and pick a few campgrounds out along the way – the farthest one being how many miles I would like to accomplish. I know I could use my GPS or google maps to find out exactly how long the trip would take but that would take out all of the adventure. By using this method of travel I stumbled upon my small piece of paradise.

I am still following the Lewis and Clark trail, drove along Flathead lake which was gorgeous country, through Missoula and into Idaho. I entered the mountains of Clearwater National Forest in the late afternoon. The road through the mountain pass was twisty with lots of animal crossing signs – a place you really don’t want to be at dusk. After checking my map I realized this type of road was going to continue for another 70 miles, but there were several National Forest campgrounds along the way so I decided to camp in one.

The campground I choose was Whitehouse,  I pulled in and I realized all the sites were along the Lochsa River. As I drove through a man waved me down, “Hi”, he said, “are you really from New York? I grew up in Buffalo.” It was like he had met a long lost friend. He told me where I could purchase wood and some groceries and we had a nice chat about New York. As I tried to back into my campsite (not my strong point if you remember from my previous post) another couple walked by and helped guide me in. Their names were Emerald and Elata, we also had spoke for a while, later I would find that Emerald and I had something in common, we are both artists.

My campsite under the cedars.

My own personal pond along the Lochsa river.

The next morning I met another couple, Alison and Alex who are from just North of San Francisco and camp here every year. They asked if I had been to the warm springs yet. I had seen a very commercial place about 20 miles up the road and told them that places like that didn’t appeal to me. They told me there was a natural hot springs too, it was less than five miles from here. They described how to find the trailhead and then you hike in for a mile and there is a place along a river that has naturally occurring hot springs. I was definitely interested, thinking that this would help my aching back.

The place is right along Route 12 in Idaho, named Jerry Johnson Warm Springs. Maya and I hiked in and it was wonderful! There are several places where the hot water gushes out of the rock; my favorite one had pools that progressively got closer to the stream. The ones closest to the top were hot and as you got closer to the stream they cooled off to warm. If you wanted a shocking cold dip, just get in the stream! It was so beautiful and relaxing, I soaked for almost two hours, trying all the pools. Maya even liked them! Her favorite was the one filled with a fine oozy mud that reeked of sulfur. I decided then and there that I would stay at my campsite another night and come back the next day. While floating in one of the warm pools by the stream a young moose came down to the water to browse for food. It was icing on a cake to be able to see that.

The trail to the hot springs begins with this footbridge over the Lochsa River.

One of my favorite pools right next to the river.

This is one of the places the hot water streams out of the earth.

This was one of the hottest pools, above where it is black on the rocks is where the water comes from.

At camp I had several long conversations with Emerald, he carves in wood and makes wood relief sculptures, wood birds and crewel embroidery. He was able to show me a mourning dove he was working on, it was incredibly detailed – each feather was lovingly carved.  Emerald showed me how to sharpen wood carving tools because I have always had problems with that. His wife Elata does beautiful crocheting, if I had time I would have loved to take lessons from her, I only know two stitches. The evening before I left they presented me with a very special gift, wild huckleberries. They had hiked up the mountain that day to pick them. I like them even better that wild blueberries, they are a little more tart.

It’s funny how the Glacier campsite was so different from this small piece of paradise. Everyone here was so friendly without being overbearing. When someone went home and left a big pile of wood by their campsite two different people stopped to tell me about it because they knew I was looking for wood. I related more to Clearwater forest, it seemed more intimate rather than cold and imposing like Glacier. Just goes to show you, you can find paradise in the most unlikely places.

Look closely, there’s the moose!

Emerald and Elata with fresh huckleberries!

Allison and Alex, my hot spring buddies!

Maya pretending she’s a salmon going upstream.

The pump where we get water, I wonder how many young people know how to operate this?

Many of the trees have moss hanging from their branches.

There was a recent fire in this forest and many of the trees had been badly burned.

Someone took charcoal and drew a sketch on this tree trunk.