Bonneville Hotsprings April 8, 2011

This was Cooper and my first trip to Bonneville Hot Springs.  Greer was supposed to go on the trip too, however she was feeling quite under the weather and stayed home and slept all day.

This was my first attempt at taking video on any of my trips.  I used my HTC Incredible, which may account for the narrow pictures.  Once downloaded to my computer I realized that the video was formatted the wrong direction, so I had to use Quicktime Pro to reorientate.  I am hoping for a new camera/video recorder for Father's Day that will be just in time for all the summer trips.

On this trip I taught Cooper how we drove to the hot springs using Hwy. 21 and how to read road markers along the way.  He didn't like the windy roads of Hwy. 21 between Idaho City and Lowman, so we ended up taking the Banks/Lowman Highway (Hwy. 17) instead.

The gate to Bonneville Campground was locked so we had to park the Power Wagon (aka Subaru) on the road.  After the trip I discovered an alternate parking space on the north side of the road just past the park's entrance.

Most of the hiking was done on soft snow, so I introduced Cooper to "post holing" while hiking.

The total hike was just over a mile from car to hot springs and all level.  Very easy hiking.

Bonneville Hot Springs elevation 4698'.

N    44º 09'24.1"

W 115º 18'49.0"

This was the only time on the trip that
Cooper carried "his" pack.

As always, Cooper's timing was
impecable.  "Dad, I have to poop!"

The closer we got the hot springs the
less snow we encountered.

Notice the pot covering the pipe and the water
flowing out beneath.  Cooper looked in the tub
and was grossed out.  I thought to myself
how nice it would be to soak on
a snowshoe trip.

This was the campground closest to
the hot springs.  It was appox. 2/10 of
a mile from the hot springs.  Perfect place
for a snowshoe campsite.

Cooper wanted to go off and explore.

Distance from the hot springs back to
the car was just over a mile.

Just up the road and to the right is
a good parking spot if the gate
is closed.