Summer 2011 Trail Creek Hot Springs Trip Reports
No trash! The upper pool was in great shape while the lower pool was submerged by Trail Creek’s spring runoff.
On the 22nd, we ran into a local Church Camp with 10-15 younger girls and 3-4 staff that were allowing the girls to wash their hair with shampoo directly in the pool!! You could see the murky water emanate from the pool and go straight into the river. *sigh* My soaking partner dropped some kind knowledge on the girls while a couple of the adult staff looked on. After hearing about how any kind of shampoo (yes, even biodegradable) doesn’t breakdown in the river and creates a fungus that is harmful for the fish and subsequent humans and animals that eat the fish – true story – the girls seemed resigned to not use shampoo in a stream or hot springs again.
To be honest, when I started out years ago I thought that bio-soap must be AOK. Until a favorite former Payette National Forest Ranger (thanks Jeff! the Payette misses you!) schooled me. All in all, this situation was a win win. Hopefully, that church camp, which has been visiting Trail Creek multiple times each year for years, will treat nature with a little more respect. On another note, I sincerely doubt that the parents of the young ladies would appreciate their children being shuttled around in the back of a pickup truck, completely unsecured, while traveling along a notoriously dangerous mountain highway.
We shared TC with Aaron on a separate visit, a friendly avid hot springer that was a lot of fun to swap stories with and meet. We all bolted once a huge family with many children came down and pushed us along. Three people was just about right for Trail Creek’s only usable pool, but 6-8 more mostly wild young children was a bust for us old school soakers. There should be some measure of etiquette when there is only one pool to soak in instead of hoping to get the others to leave because of the ‘our group is larger than yours’ type of mentality. Regardless, the people were friendly and we had already enjoyed a nice long soak. I was very happy about the general lack of trash around the pools, surrounding area and parking pullout. Well done fellow soakers, well done.
Rating B+
It looks really nice ! Thanks for the current info. I’m going to recommend this place to a couple of friends currently in Utah.
Amanda
there is eti. the new people should sit and wait till the group in is done if there is not enuff room. most will invite u down anyways 🙂
i didnt have to be told the rule i kinda was born with that knowledge, some arent so lucky rite lol