The Salmon River

We left the lovely Banner Creek Campground and headed toward Stanley, a picturesque little town nestled in the Sawtooths along a fork of the Salmon River.  On the way we passed some spectacular scenery, and spotted several large birds--could they be sandhill cranes?  Many campsites were available on the national forest.

We breakfasted at a great café in Stanley, then decided to brave a bit of the heat by camping two days at Arco in a Good Sam (Mountain View RV) and off we headed, first toward Challis, continuing along the salmon.  The scenery was spectacular and there were many wayside points of interest at which we stopped, including a couple of hot springs (totally available for public use and no one around)--since it was in the 40s, the hot springs actually sounded good, but we kept going! 

The picture series below shows the steam rising out of the springs on one side of the road, then the next picture shows the hot water rocketing toward the Salmon River from a culvert, and the final picture shows the river, which was quite warm to the touch.

 

 

As we traveled on we came to the site of a gold mine on the Salmon River, where a mining company early last century had built a dam in the river, forming a huge lake, and using the energy to power the mining operation.  Decades later the dam was removed to allow for fish passage, and only a remnant now is seen, as shown below:

This is definitely a place to return, camp for over a week (bring a bug tent), and enjoy the beauty and history of the area.  The Salmon River is a difficult river system to fish as there are endangered salmonids, and only hatchery fish can be caught and kept.  There are over 300 lakes in the area, many accessible only by hiking/backpacking.

Just before Challis, we turned south on the Peaks-to-Craters Scenic Byway, and once again we saw beautiful scenery as we headed to Arco at the base of the mountains.  Here, the temperature is in the high 80s (overcast today with thunder showers),  and tomorrow in the low 90s, but it should cool to the 50s overnight.

When setting up camp I made a mess because somehow the grey water valve closure was open, so when I removed the cap, out it gushed!  Fortunately it WAS the grey water!  Sigh.