Sunday, August 11, 2013

Day 67 - August 9, 2013 - Riggins, ID to New Meadows, ID

Miles - 31
Total miles - 1,795

We woke up late today - the light in a canyon looks like 6:30am when it's really 8:30...oops!  We also stopped for breakfast, which turned out to be the best breakfast of the trip...


Since we started so late, it got hot quickly.  And we had a slight but definitely noticeable uphill all day long.  I was dragging by about mile 10, and we had planned about 60 miles today...umm, that wasn't going to happen!  I kept taking breaks for water and to rest, and it was taking us forever to get anywhere.


We passed a crazy landmark today...this odd Yahweh place that is probably some sort of weird cult.  I'm not even going to google it...I'll probably get out on some government watch list just for reading about it.  It is for sale, if anyone's interested...

At one point, highway 95, which we have been following for a while, got windy, and the shoulder was pretty much non-existent.  The bail out option for the speeding logging trucks, RV's and semis that fly by turned into a gravelly ditch.  And of course, we were run off the road several times.  It was a frustrating afternoon.

We got to what was mostly the top of the climb, and were in another beautiful valley full of meadows.  And even a little downhill.  We knew we weren't going to make it our scheduled 60 miles to Council, so we decided to stop short at Zim's Hot Springs, just outside of New Meadows, ID.  I've been wanting to go to a hot spring forever, so I was excited!

We set up camp near one of the covered picnic tables, then headed in to enjoy the hot springs.  This hot springs has been around since at least the turn of the century - they have one large soaking pool that they keep pretty hot...it was warmer than a typical hot tub, and a swimming pool that was 92 degrees when we were there.  They felt great on our aching knees!  The swimming pool was the perfect temperature - not chilly, and you were comfortable in it even just floating around.

We cooked some backpacking lasagna (surprisingly good!), and the couple in the RV parked closest to us that we had talked to earlier brought us over a bag of popcorn, some 7-ups and a couple of beers - they are awesome!  Thanks to The Webbers!!



We headed back to the rec hall at the hot springs to have some snacks and try to download some Friends episodes onto the iPad for entertainment as we fall asleep, but the wifi was very slow.  About 10, we went back to the tent to turn in.  It had been smoky all day because of some fires in the area, but the sky was clearing, and the stars were pretty...but clear skies also mean cooler nighttime temperatures...


We climbed into our sleeping bags, but it wasnt probably more than a few hours before we woke up shivering.  Time for sweats, sweatshirts, and socks!  It wasn't supposed to get below 50, but our bags apparently said it was cooler than that!  To add insult to injury, I went to use the porta-potty, and could see that glorious steam coming off the springs...if I could have slept in there, I would have!

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