Despite a redesign looming in the horizon for IdahoHotSprings.com, I took some time and did some spring cleaning. I removed a bunch of slow code, ads, and non-relevant pages. I did everything I could short of a complete redesign, which is coming, did I say that already? 😉
Last weekend I was up camping and hiking around the Warm Lake and Krassel areas. Runoff was picking up, but not quite enough to bury the pools at Trail Creek and Sugah. However, it was enough to limit access to the hot shower at Buckhorn and bury Penny and Teapot. Forest Road 474S road into Molly’s, Molly’s Tubbs and Vulcan was still snow-covered.
Forest Road 474N is in the worst shape I’ve ever witnessed. After the wildfires and before winter, crews had to quickly replace a series of over 20 large, metal culverts along the road, and unfortunately didn’t have time to repave the road after installing the new culverts. That’s exactly where all the rough spots are, some are tire killers! Go slow, it’s only the first 20 miles.
On the way up to Cascade, passing through Banks revealed tons of people. The pass between Cascade and Warm Lake had at most 7feet of snow on the roadside, but the road itself was dry pavement. However, snow drifts, at times, covered an entire lane throughout many blind corners. I experienced a few scares with speedy oncoming drivers not paying attention on the way in and out.
All things considered; trash was low, the nights were cold, but the campfire, warm spring days and hot springs were stellar.
Okay, so my camping experiance is limited- but last year we spend a couple of weekends at Warm lake. Are the campgrounds completly fried? Will they be open this year?
Brian and I’s first camping trip was to Warm Lake (my first real trip) and it was almost like a honeymoon for us. I was hoping to go back this year…
The campgrounds are all open, and have been preserved for the most part. Some parts of the Boise and Payette National Forests show areas where severe scorching occurred. When I was there last week, a nice green carpet of undergrowth was beginning to form on the blackened soil. Happy camping and soaking! 😀
Is there too much snow in Banks for the hike up to SkinnyDipper then?
Greetings from a fellow Boise-an and the used-to-be recreation technician on the Cascade RD. Nice site!
Hi Casey, thanks for stopping by. You have a really cool blog yourself!