Lava Hot Springs
We went to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho for our maiden voyage of camping in our new/used trailer. It was only 2 1/2 hours away.
Our first views of Lava Hot Springs was this sign and a huge waterslide pool. The sign is actually a couple of waterslides that go into the pool.
We got a beautiful campsite at Mary’s Place which was right by town across the river. We had to drive over an old wood and steel bridge that looked a little rickety. The KOA was on the other side of the bridge. The KOA was expensive, 100 dollars a night. Mary’s place was only 44 dollars a night with full hooks (with military discount).
The trailer worked wonderfully. It was beautiful and comfortable. It towed easily because it was so small.
This is the river by our campground. The campground was full for the weekend, but we had a spot with no-one next to us. Everyone left on Sunday and we had the place mostly to ourselves.
There were also some old historic cabins that people could camp in right by our campground.
I bought a mini E-bike for camping because I thought my big E-bike wouldt be too heavy for the back bumper of the camper. The mini bike was only 350 and it folded up so I could put in the back of the car. I also brought a scooter in the back of the car so we could go riding together. John tried out the bike and had a ball zipping around the park to the chagrin of the park manager. It was kind of funny, though, seeing a big guy on a little bike.
After setting up camp, we drove into town.
It was a small, beautiful ,eclectic tourist town by a small river that people went tubing on. There were several tube rentals around town.
We got dinner at the 100 year old River Hotel and Spa. We sat right by the river on a beautiful patio. We watched the tubes floating by. We had chicken, salmon, asparagus and mashed potatoes and polenta. It was a little expensive for the portion size, about 22 dollars a plate. I guess we were paying for the riverside experience. They had private mineral soaking rooms in the hotel too.
After eating we looked through some shops. They had unusual places, not your usual touristy stores.
It was their annual folk festival so musicians were singing at different places all over town. John sat and watched a couple while I explored. John had fun in town. I hadn’t seen him enjoy something like that for a long time.
The river was very popular for tubing. It had several rapids and falls areas that made it fun and exciting.
After exploring, we went back to our camping spot and watched a movie in our trailer. It was a little cold in the morning sleeping with open tents, so I turned on the heater.
The next morning we went to town to get breakfast. It was crowded with long waits. I had the best eggs Benedict when we finally did eat.
John wasn’t feeling well. He may have over done it the day before, so he took a nap in the trailer. I went for a bike ride to explore the town more. I found wooded trails and parks, the water slide park, an old hotel that had soaking pools for public pay. It is called the lava hot springs hotel and used to be the sanitorium (hospital). Sick people would come to the hot springs for its curative powers. The hotel is supposed to be very haunted too because of all the people who died there.
I also found a double decker bus hamburger restaurant and a Spanish food truck by the river for tubers to stop and get snacks at.
I went to the museum. It had history of the county and displays about the history of Lava Hot Springs. It told about how it was formed and how a flood and a fire destroyed the town. The museum was in an old bank so it had a vault where they displayed some instruments and items from the old sanatorium (hospital). They also had clothes worn by citizens from the simple to the more elaborate.
The museum also had some strange displays such as one about the south bannock goat bird. It was a bird that had horns and its droppings were pure gold The display said a guy collected them in a cave and then a earthquake destroyed the cave, but it had recently been dug out and inside were lot of skeletons of birds and of a man. They said the rumor had been recently confirmed when it was dug out and they now have some of the gold droppings in a museum.
I thought that was really strange so I looked it up when I got back and found out that the display had been made up by a reporter and they used to sell carvings of the bird to fund the museum.
The museum also had a display about Ligertown. Ligertown had 44 large cats, and the owners intended it to be an attraction but it never took off because of the poor condition of the facility. The cages were made of pallets and wire and were really small. It was scary. People expected the animals to break out, and they did. Seventeen lions were hunted down and killed. The county had the rest removed to shelters and then burned down the place because it was such a health hazard.
I also stopped by the great hardware store in town to get a bolt for the scooter. I also rode the bike all over the hills where the houses were.
Lastly, I found the place that tubers put in at the river. It was after a couple of waterfalls. The second picture is where the more daring put in. It’s a beautiful clear cove, but they have to go over the waterfall below. The tubing companies say that every day someone comes in with injuries from going over that waterfall because underneath is volcanic rock.
John was still asleep when I got back so I went to the town market and got food for Sunday. In the afternoon I drove into town and got yummy Mexican food for dinner at a food truck.
On Sunday we went to the free sunken gardens. They were beautiful! The rock walls which look like lava are actually the remains of algae reefs formed in the Portneuf River long ago. The rock walls had little caves in them. We walked around the path to the other side and we could look down on the Hot Springs where people were soaking. It looks like a pool now, but half it is very old.
Below is the gardens and the Hot Springs in the 1950’s
Next we went for a drive to Pocatello. We didn’t go in anywhere, but we saw the visitor center and an old town replica and the Hall Fort replica behind it. We also drove around the university campus and through the old downtown that had some interesting looking shops. Lastly, we drove by the zoo which was located in a big park and it was on a hill. I would like to come back someday and see the insides of all these places.
We ate and rested and then I went for another drive and looked at a couple more camp grounds and found a free one. I also found a go cart place that looked really fun and only cost 15 dollars. Lastly, I found a beautiful valley community with rolling hills and a mountain behind them. There was also a sign saying national forest so I went to check it out and found a trail by the river that led to a beautiful paradise of waterfalls. The water is crystal clear in the river.
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