Road Trip | Touring Central Idaho in a Van
To celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary, Kyle and I decided to road trip through central Idaho; hitting up some great hiking spots, hot springs, and camping along the way. To do this, we used the Outdoorsy app (this post is not sponsored by Outdoorsy) to rent a van locally. It allowed us to be self contained, cook our meals, and safely distance ourselves from others while traveling during the pandemic. It also provided the opportunity for us to really try out van life and see if it’s for us. Spoiler: it definitely is.
We took a full week to hit up Salmon, Goldbug Hot Springs, Mt. Borah, Sun Valley (Ketchum, specifically), Stanley and Redfish Lake, Kirkham Hot Springs, and then make our way back home through Boise, McCall, and Moscow. Let’s dig in!
Day 1: Salmon, Idaho
Salmon is a small town in central-eastern Idaho. It’s well known for its recreation options including fishing, hiking, rafting, and much more. Like the majority of our stops on this trip, we avoided the main part of town (although it looked awesome with cute shops and several restaurants) to avoid spreading germs. Our main goal in getting to Salmon was to get close to Goldbug Hot Springs, although I’m eager to go back once the pandemic has subsided so we can better enjoy the town. We camped at a RV campground for the night and set our alarms to get to the Goldbug trailhead early.
Day 2: Goldbug Hot Springs
Day 2 of our trip also happened to be our 10 year wedding anniversary, so it was fitting that we got to do one of the activities we were most excited about. Goldbug Hot Springs has been on my Idaho bucket list for many years. I highly recommend getting either a very early start or very late start to avoid the heat (if it’s summer) and the crowds. Even first thing in the morning the springs were very crowded.
The hike itself is about 3.5 miles round-trip. Very doable. The end does get a bit steep and rocky in places, so do be prepared for that. The springs themselves are gorgeous. A stream of cascading pools down the hillside. The pools vary greatly in temperature, and with a little additional hiking, we were able to find a pool that was both private and the perfect temperature. The trail is dog-friendly but please be sure to keep you pup leashed as it’s highly trafficked and because hot springs are delicate areas - be sure to leave no trace and clean up after yourself and your pet.
After enjoying a good, long soak, we hiked back down to the van and took off toward our next destination - Mt. Borah.
Day 3: Mt. Borah - Idaho’s tallest peak
It wasn’t originally part of our itinerary to hike Idaho’s tallest peak. But, when Kyle realized it was along our route we added it to our to-do and I’m so glad we did. At just over 7 miles round-trip, Mt. Borah didn’t sound daunting at first, but after learning about the quick elevation gain and challenging technical spots, I began to feel a bit nervous about tackling it. The trailhead alone is over 7,000 feet elevation - nearly double that of Canfield Mountain’s top elevation here in town for perspective. That means, if you’re attempting to summit, you climb over 5,400 feet in elevation in under 4.5 miles. That’s a lot.
We began our hike before dawn to beat the heat. The first mile or so was nice and i was able to set a good pace. But as we rose through the tree line, it quickly steepened into a series of switchbacks. Luckily the views each step of the way were gorgeous with panoramic views of the valley below.
The three of us made it to the infamous Chicken-out Ridge (aptly named). Eyeballing the trail ahead (which involved literal rock climbing in areas) we decided Juneau and I would turn around - I would not recommend trying to summit with a dog. While it may be doable for some, I’d say it’s a bit irresponsible. Kyle joined another group of hikers heading to the top though, and made it to the summit. While I wish I could have experienced the top, I was feeling the elevation and was a bit lightheaded and was experiencing numbness in my fingers. Not a good combination for a technical hike.
After reuniting, we made our way down slowly and gingerly, as we didn’t have poles to assist us. We stopped for a snack and read each other a letter we wrote in honor of our anniversary weekend. There were tears, there were laughs, there were mountain views, it was perfect.
I plan to do a full post just on our Mt. Borah experience, but here are three things I think are important for this hike:
Bring a lot of water (3L at least) and snacks. It’s a long day.
Bring poles if you have them - I wish we had.
Take it slow - there’s a lot of elevation change over a relatively short distance. Take your time, take breaks, and let your body acclimate.
Day 4: Sun Valley - Ketchum
Neither of us had ever been to Sun Valley. To be honest, I never really felt the need to go. We have great ski hills near us, and the hoity-toity culture I’d heard about down there just didn’t sound all that appealing. But, since we were going that way, we thought we’d camp for a night outside of Ketchum and see what it’s all about. Ketchum certainly had a quint downtown area. We stopped in town to restock groceries and decided to walk around a bit. We visited their local outdoors store each picking a souvenir. Kyle got a Bowl of Soul at their Java (it was nice to see a familiar coffee place that wasn’t a Starbucks!). Overall, it seemed like a really fun town and I think I would go back again to ski or spend a weekend.
Days 5-6: Stanley, ID and Redfish Lake
Stanley and Redfish Lake is a very special place for us. It’s where Juneau learned to really swim for the first time, one of our first adventure-based vacations, and generally just full of wonderful memories. I will never tire of visiting there (read more about our Redfish Lake adventures here).
We camped for two nights at the Glacier View campground, walking or biking distance to the beach and the lodge. Our second night there, we decided to treat ourselves to our first real restaurant meal of the journey. I have to say, everyone along our trip was very respectful, masking and distancing when appropriate and our dining experience at Redfish Lake was no different. The food there is always wonderful and the atmosphere is just the right amount of rustic and classy. We were all a bit tired still from our big hike, so we just layed low, enjoyed the views and played games and watched movies in the van when it got too cold to be outside comfortably. It got down to 25 degrees at night while we were there - very chilly!
Days 7-8: Boise, McCall, Moscow, home!
Days 5-7 are a bit of a blur because we were just closing the loop on our way home. We did manage to squeeze in Kirkham Hot Springs on our way to Boise, along the Lowman Highway. It’s incredibly accessible and quite pretty.
If you’ve been around here for a while you know that we have a lot of family and friends in the Boise area, so our quick overnight was less than ideal. We did get to crash at a family members’s house outside of Boise (we didn’t even go into the city really to avoid crowds). It was really nice to have an evening to catch up, take a real shower and sleep on a real mattress for a night after being in the van for nearly a week. We woke up on day six, ate breakfast, and packed up. We stopped in McCall for lunch at a new (to us) place called 6 Three 4 and really enjoyed it. We ate outside and were able to have Juneau hang with us. That night we camped in our friends’ driveway and got to see their brand new baby (from a safe distance, of course). We all sat out on their deck, and ate dinner and breakfast together. It was lovely to see them after months of everyone intentionally staying apart. The following morning we packed up, unloaded and cleaned out the van when we got home, and returned our little temporary home on wheels to its owner.
Since we didn’t do a whole lot during this section, here are a few of our other Boise-McCall visits:
We’re so happy we got to do such a special trip for our anniversary, despite being in the middle of a pandemic. It was special for us to take some time off work and just enjoy each other’s company doing what we love most, exploring new places and making memories.
Hope you all are staying well!