Day 19: To Neinmeyer campground

September 15, 2008

The tent was 41F in the morning. Perhaps 35F outside. Up at 8:10 and on the road at 9:30. Fortunately the sun started shining on my campsite at 8:30. That helps me get moving. But I wasn't feeling particularly energetic after yesterday's extreme exertions.

My first stop was less than a mile down the road at Atlanta hot spring. The pool was still 109F because the warm water pipe was pushed away from the pool. I moved the warm (85F?) pipe back into the pool and enjoyed a soak close to the warm pipe where the temperature quickly dropped to 106F. The sun was just starting to shine on the pool when I departed. Good timing.

Atlanta hot spring in chilly morning shade. Blue pipe is warm water, white pipe is hot water.

The riding was easy for most of the day. Downstream all day with well packed but mildly washboarded gravel.

Forest road 268 stays very close to the river most of the time.

Approaching a big burn area along the middle fork Boise river.

I stopped at the Dutch Frank guard station to make macaroni and cheese for lunch. Handy shade, water, and toilet. A couple miles later is Granite Creek hot spring. The pools were either too hot (108F) or too cool. So I didn't soak there.

Four miles downstream is Dutch Frank hot spring. It's on the opposite side of the river but there is a bridge nearby. A woman named Teri from Boise was just leaving as I arrived. She is on a hot springs tour herself, traveling with her dog in a Volkswagen Westphalia. The extremely hot source flows through several cooling pools before reaching the soaking pool near the river. It was very easy to control the amount of cold water getting in, so I had a good soak there. Unfortunately I was swarmed by horseflies when I got out.

A few miles later I stopped to look at Brown's creek hot spring which is also across the river. But here the river is very deep and fast. It looked difficult to cross, so I just took a picture. The hot waterfalls look really interesting, though.

Brown's Creek hot spring on the wrong side of a fast, deep river.

The mountains become more barren as I lose elevation.

Then onward a few more miles to Neinmeyer campground. It's a very old campground in Boise national forest. The stone toilet building looks like it was built in the 1930's by the CCC. No drinking water, though. I filtered water from the river. Horseflies were terrible in the sun near the river, so I camped farther from the river in the forest. I arrived at 4 PM at the peak heat of the day. 86F in dense shade. I washed clothes and made a homebrew shower. I also waded across the knee-deep river to have a look at Neinmeyer hot spring which has a hot waterfall flowing into a dammed section of the river. The result is a swimming pool sized warm pool. Maybe 85-90F. Much warmer than the river but still not hot. I only soaked for a couple minutes.

Neinmeyer hot spring,across the river from Neinmeyer campground.

Sometime after getting in my sleeping bag for the night I started to get bit. I never did see what was biting me but I got about 20 small red welts. That's never happened to me before.

Today was a short easy day but I needed an easy day to recover from yesterday. In retrospect I should have gone a few miles farther. The road is somewhat washboarded but most of the time I can go around the washboards. But not too close to the edge of the road or I sink into loose sand.

The weather is MUCH warmer than it was a few days ago. I have dropped to 3700 feet elevation but that only accounts for some of the warmth.

Distance: 33.4 miles (53.4 km), all unpaved

Climbing: 581 feet (176 m)

Average speed: 8.9 mph (14.3 km/h)

Maximum speed: 22 mph (35 km/h)

Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 774 miles (1,246 km)

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