Sunbeam, ID

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Today, our camping adventure with Laura and Shaun begins. We all enjoyed a restful night of sleep at our campsite along the Bailey Lake Forest Road near the town of Darby. Andi warmed up egg cups in the microwave and then delivered them along with fresh, hot coffee for breakfast to Laura and Shaun’s camper while I got the kids up and dressed. One of the best perks to dry camping in the woods is that you can run your generator whenever you want without bothering anyone — which, is important to do to keep our batteries charged when we’re not hooked up to electricity.

Andi and I unhooked the Jeep from the RV while Shaun worked to unhook his pickup truck from their camper, then we made our way up Bailey Lake Road toward the trailhead. The dirt road is too bumpy for our RV (I mean, we could drive the road but it wouldn’t be a very comfortable ride), so we decided to leave our campers parked at the campsite until we’re done fishing today. The one-lane forest service road was a lot busier than I expected. Saturday morning brought lots of outdoor enthusiasts to the area for climbing, fishing and hiking. Camping here overnight, it honestly felt like were were the only ones in the woods. Apparently not the case!

We parked our vehicles at the trailhead, and began the one-mile hike to Bailey Lake. Laura was enamored by all the fall colors. We stopped to take a few pictures while Aden collected dried branches.

This area is a known bear and elk habitat, so we wondered if we’d encounter any animals on the trail. Fortunately, we didn’t see any — only tracks. The last time we hiked to Bailey Lake, we were with a local who brought along his dog and a gun for this very reason.

Bailey Lake was beautiful as we remembered, and once again we had the entire place to ourselves. This place is quite literally a big slice of Montana heaven.

We set up shop on one side of the lake and immediately started to fish. The trout weren’t biting as quickly as they had for us last week, but we were still able to find a few sweet spots and fill our limit of cutthroat trout.

Tory didn’t come with us the last time we fished this lake, so it was fun for her to get in on the action. Aden, however, continued to be the fish slayer and reeled in one after the other. He was truly in his element and loving every minute of our morning fishing on Bailey Lake.

So fun to share this experience with Laura and Shaun. After a few hours of fishing, we cleaned and washed the fish in the lake, then made our way back to our vehicles parked at the trailhead.

From there, we drove back down the forest service road to pick up our campers left at the campsite. We hooked up and continued south toward the Salmon, Idaho area. Somewhere along the way on Highway 93 south of the Montana/Idaho state line, we pulled over at a freshwater spring to fill up our water bottles. There’s no real sign or information here, just a pull-out with a spigot hooked up to the mountain.

The landscape changed dramatically once we crossed the Montana/Idaho state line. The tall green pines on the Montana side of the mountain are replaced with brown rolling hills on the drier Idaho side. It’s crazy that two sides of the same mountain can be so different.

We continued driving south along Highway 93 toward Sunbeam, Idaho. Andi read about a hot springs there, not far off the highway, that we decided to check out for the night.

The entire drive this afternoon was so, so pretty. We took our time weaving through the Salmon-Challis National Forest communicating with Laura and Shaun through walkie-talkies which made our road trip all the more fun. Along the way, we stopped in the town of Salmon, Idaho to fill up with propane, grab a few groceries, and order lunch to-go from Junkyard Bistro. The six of us found a picnic table next to the grocery store in town and ate our meals al fresco. Salmon is such a quaint mountain town and definitely worth a stop on a road trip through central Idaho. It’s also the birthplace of Sacagawea! Our next time visiting, I’d love to visit the Sacagawea Interpretive Center there.

This trip though, we continued south along Highway 93 until we eventually turned onto Highway 75 toward the small town of Sunbeam, Idaho. Andi navigated us to a campsite at Blind Creek Campground which was free for the night since all the camping services are closed for the season. We were the only people there, and had our pick of spots to park. Andi found a double campsite that fit both our rigs adjacent to the river.

Once our campers were set, all six of us piled into the Jeep and drove a little ways down the road to the Sunbeam Hot Springs. Natural hot springs like this one are one of our family’s favorite things to do. I honestly wasn’t expecting this one to be so busy, but the beautiful scenery made it worth sticking around.

The six of us wandered around scoping out the perfect pool to sit and soak. Another family with about 10 people in their party were using the most kid-accessible area, so we sort of waited around on the river bank until they left. While we waited, I entertained myself by reading the informational placards posted along the river. Hot springs like Sunbeam have been attacking travelers and settlers alike for over a century. The signs showed pictures of cabins built on the river in the early 1900’s with lean-to bathhouses heated by hot springs water.

After the big group of people cleared out, Andi, Shaun and Aden nabbed the spot in the shallow pools formed with river rocks. Parts of the water were really, really hot while others were cool. The strategic placement of rocks is how the hot and cold water mixes to find the perfect soaking temperature.

I wouldn’t say Sunbeam Hot Springs were the best thermal pools we’ve ever soaked in, but the natural beauty of the river was hard to beat. The pools were either really hot or kinda cold, so Laura, Tory and I opted to sit on the rocks and put our feet in while Andi, Shaun and Aden did most of the soaking. Aden jumps on every opportunity to be in water, so he wasn’t going to miss out.

After about an hour and a half at the hot springs, we all piled into the Jeep again and drove back to our campsite. We could have taken two cars to the hot springs, of course, but then Shaun would have had to unhook his truck from his camper and that seemed silly to do since we planned to roll out again tomorrow morning. The hot springs were just a minute or two down the road from our campsite.

Back at camp, Andi and Shaun grilled up the cutthroat trout we’d caught earlier in the day. Laura and I worked on the sides contributing steamed green beans, leftover spinach salad, and sourdough bread.

We opted to sit inside our campers tonight since the air temperatures are dropping so low after the sun goes down. Last night, we froze our buns off! We chatted over glasses of wine until around 9:00pm, and then called it a day. Tomorrow, we’ll continue to drive southwest toward Stanley, Idaho.