Ever since we were kids, we've listened to friends brag about their visits to Lava Hot Springs, in Idaho. We know one woman who visits the hot springs several times each winter. We always thought it sounded like a great way to get warm.
This year, in the pinnacle of our middle age, we finally made it to Lava Hot Springs ourselves. My husband and I joined another couple for a cross country ski weekend and a series of long soaks in the mineral pools.
There were dozens of people in the water and hardly anyone on the trails, we discovered. We also discovered a couple of good places to ski.
According to the Idaho Visitors Bureau, cross country skiing and snowshoeing are gaining popularity in the southern part of the state. Snowmobiling has been big for years.
On our recent visit we found one professionally groomed ski trail, as well as one ungroomed trail that had been smoothed by snowmobiles before we got there. We hardly saw another soul on either trail, and heard nothing except for streams flowing over rocks and the call of birds. (We saw ducks on one of the spring-fed streams. We also scared up a wild turkey as we skied by.)
We enjoyed the solitude while we were skiing and felt lucky to have been alone in nature. But when we got home and read a visitor's guide to southern Idaho, we decided it hadn't been a matter of luck after all.
According to the Idaho Visitors Bureau, there aren't that many people living in the region. The trail guide says that southern Idaho has 120,000 people and 12,000 square miles of land — for an average of 60 acres per person. More than half the land in southern Idaho is public land.
We skied our first day at the Kelly Park Cross Country Ski Area, off Idaho 34 near the city limits of Soda Springs. We decided Kelly would be a good place to take children who are just learning to ski. It consists of a series of five interconnecting loops. If the kids get tired, you are never far from the car. Kudos to whomever grooms these trails and keeps the park open all winter.
When we first started out, we thought we'd cover the entire park in less than an hour. But sightseeing got the best of us and we skied for several hours, exploring all the loops and taking photos of the lava rock and the frozen lake and the wind-sculpted snowdrifts. (On one of the loops there was also a less-than-inspiring view of a concrete plant.)
The next day we asked around and when we didn't come across anyone in town who had a favorite cross country ski trail, we set out for a site we'd found on the Internet. It turned out to be gorgeous.
Just east of Lava Hot Springs, on Highway 30, you see a sign for Pebble Creek. Turn left and drive for 10 miles (and if snow is expected you'd best have 4-wheel drive) until you see the sign for the Big Springs Campground. Turn left again, onto Pebble Creek Road, cross the railroad tracks and keep driving until Pebble Creek Road dead ends into Taylor Road. Turn left again and you'll soon come to a parking lot. Now you can spend a lovely day skiing up a pretty canyon. You are actually on the backside of the Pebble Creek Ski Resort.
Before and after cross country skiing, we explored the town of Lava Hot Springs and tried different methods of dipping in the varied pools surrounding our hotel — the funky little Lava Hot Springs Inn. The two men in our group decided the perfect way to enjoy the water was to stretch out on the wooden slats in the hottest pool of all. Backsides burning, front sides getting snowed on, they dozed away the afternoon.
Because we had hot pools at our hotel, we didn't pay to go to the actual resort. We did walk up and look at it and it seemed a nice facility. (Adult admission is $5.50 on the weekends and holidays. Children under 12 get in for $5.)
We found several good places to eat in Lava Hot Springs. The restaurant called Thai Food is small and so popular there was an hour wait on the Saturday night when we were in town. We were too hungry to stand around smelling the pad Thai, so we ended up at the White Wolf Restaurant, where we enjoyed the ribs. For breakfast one morning we tried Johnny's, where our traveling companion delightedly discovered some good espresso.
The Lava Hot Springs Inn was built as a hospital in the 1920s. (We learned about the building and the history of the town and the hobbies of its residents at the free South Bannock Historical Museum.) The inn reminded us of places we used to stay in Moab, 30 years ago, before that town got hip. The museum reminded us of every local museum we've ever loved, in that it has a little bit of everything as well as some items you'd never expect — in this case, a pair of huge hand-made Japanese drums.
Now that we've done it, finally, now that we've made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Salt Lake to Lava Hot Springs, we believe we will go again. Solitary skiing is closer than we knew.
E-mail: susan@desnews.com