Paris, Idaho 4th of July Parade

We spent the 4th of July at Bear Lake.  Looking at the different options of things to do to celebrate, we decided on the parade in Paris, Idaho.

The parade was a great small town parade.  It is always a great experience to get out and celebrate our countries freedoms with the community.

The kids had fun seeing the floats, horses, flags, police cars, fire trucks, etc.  I can't believe the amount of candy that the kids came home with.  They had a grocery sack filled over half full.

After the parade the city has more celebrations, but we decided to go celebrate by having a relaxing day on the beach, and watching the fireworks in the evening.

If you are ever up in the Bear Lake area over the 4th, the parade is a fun option!

Nearest City: Location: N° W° Time Needed: Difficulty: Kid Friendly: Additional Info:

Digging for Trilobites at Spence Gulch

Over Labor Day we had another trip to Bear Lake.  Since I've been on somewhat of a fossil kick lately, I dragged everyone up to Spence Gulch in Idaho.  Ok- dragged isn't quite realistic.  Everybody was interested and volunteered to come. We drove north from Garden City for about half an hour, turned off on the Lanark Road, then turned west again on Mill Farm Road.  When we got to Dutch (Danish?) Flat we turned north on Road 939.  A little way down the road we parked, then hiked down the drainage looking for a huge cutbank.  Bingo.

After a short hike, we found the huge outcropping of Spence Shale.  This shale bed contains a high concentration of fossils and was first identified here in Spence Gulch. 

The biggest challenge I found at Spence Gulch was the rock quality is very poor.  There are lots of fractures and getting out large pieces to split is tough to do.  It's a tough balance- it's easy to find and get to, it has fairly abundant and interesting fossils, but the rock quality isn't very good.  We dug, splitted, and looked for trilobites for probably about 2 hours and came home with some pretty cool looking ones.  I need to brush up on my trilobite identification- all I know is these ones have spiny bodies and look cool. 

Here's one of the trilobites we found.  The spiny body is really cool.

This one is a different species. 

We also found countless fossils like this one.  We wondered if they were leaves, or what.  It's a hyolith, an extinct mollusk with a cone-shaped shell.  They're pretty common at some sites like this one. 

Here's a few more pictures of some of the trilobites.  It was interesting how you could spend 10 minutes splitting a chunk of shale and not find any complete fossils, but then be working on extracting another piece and have a great looking one fall out of the rubble. 

Nearest City: Liberty, ID
Location: N° W°
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The Bloomington Lake Rope Swing

Saturday we were at Bear Lake again.  After lunch we drove up to Bloomington Lake to play at Bloomington Lake.  I was really surprised to see how crowded it was up there, but I guess that's what you get when it's a holiday weekend.  There were probably about 50-60 people there at any given point, with more at some points. 

Bloomington Lake is about 6/10ths of a mile from the trailhead, over a pretty tame trail.  The biggest attraction there is the rope swing, but there is also some cliff jumping on the south side.  We saw a few people with fishing poles, and another group that was packing out some kayaks.  

During a break in the crowds we hiked over to take a turn on the swing.  It was a lot of fun!  I only went once because there were so many people, but catching it at a less crowded time would be awesome!

Nearest City: Bloomington, ID
Location: N° W°
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Additional Info:  The road is passable in passenger cars. 

Big Springs Nature Trail

We headed up the Pebble Basin Road north of Lava to look for trilobites.  We had seen some at the Lava Hot Springs Museum last year and wanted to find some of our own.  One of the geologists at Idaho State University said that there are some near the Pebble Basin Campground.  We got to the campground and looked around for a while, but the kids got cranky and needed a diversion. 

 At the back of the non-ATV section of the campground is the Big Springs Nature Trail.  It follows the side of a small creek up to a large spring.  The spring is cold, deep, and blue.  We talked to someone who grew up in the area that said they'd tried putting a 20 foot pole into it and didn't hit the bottom. 

We splashed below the little dam for a while and enjoyed the beautiful day. 

The kids never did let us get back to finding one of those trilobites- by the time they finished playing they were tired and hungry so it was time to call it a day.  If you do happen to know more about fossils in this area, I am definitely interested if you'd like to share!

Nearest City: Bancroft, ID
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
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Croney Hot Springs

As I was looking around for more fun things to do in the Lava Hot Springs area, I found a primitive hot spring on the banks of the Portneuf River.  It didn't really have a name, so I'll just go with Croney Hot Spring since it's accessed via the Croney Road Sportsmans Access.  It's less than half a mile to the springs, but it involves a river crossing to get there.

We crossed the river and hiked over to the spring.  It obviously hadn't been visited for a while, judging from all of the moss and algae.  It doesn't look very appetizing, does it!  I felt the water and it felt great!  I felt like Goldilocks eating the baby bear's porridge- this one feels just right! 

We had a great little soak and watched a rainstorm roll in and felt a few drops fall.    

My 2 year old really liked the hot spring and kept saying " I Yike It! I Yike It!"  I "yike" hot springs too. All too soon it was time to get out and move on.

Here's a last shot of us crossing the river.  The deepest it got was about mid-thigh, but I'm sure there are deeper spots.  Back at the car, I talked to a local who enjoys the spring during the duck hunt.  He just sits and soaks, waiting for ducks to fly overhead. 


Nearest City: Bancroft, ID
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1 hour +
Difficulty: High (only because the river crossing)
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Additional Info:  Don't dunk your head at this or any hot spring!  Hot springs can have some pretty funky bacteria and it's just not worth risking a stay at the hospital. 

Chesterfield Ghost Town

The weekend following the 4th of July, we had a family reunion at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  We went up and had a great time with many people tubing the river and playing at the pool.  On Saturday it seemed like everyone packed up mid-morning to go home, but we didn't want to go home just yet, so we spent the rest of the day exploring.

20 miles or so north of Lava is Chesterfield.  I'd seen some information on it, so we drove up to take a look. WOW- what an amazing spot!  There are several buildings that have been restored and countless others are in various stages of disrepair. 

Many of the homes are brick, with a lot of them open for tours in the summer.  There are quite a few  examples of the Utah Mormon pioneer architectural styles. 

I  thought the log cabins were pretty cool too.  For some reason, people like to restore the old red brick buildings, but don't feel the same about the log cabins. 

The Holbrook Mercantile is the headquarters of the town and a good spot to stop for information on what buildings are open for tours, etc.

 North of town there are several old buildings that are slowly decaying. 

I really liked looking back at the townsite, which was built along the old Oregon Trail, and seeing all of the buildings.

Inside the livery stable the light coming through the doors and cracks made me get my camera out once again,

The old chapel isn't open for church anymore, but still is used for youth group devotionals. 

Nearest City: Chesterfield, ID
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: several hours
Difficulty: Easy
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Additional Info: The Chesterfield Foundation Website

Fossil Ammonites up Paris Canyon

As we were driving up Paris Canyon to visit the Ice Caves, we saw a rock outcropping on the north side of the road that looked like a good bet for finding fossils.   I'd read somewhere that there were fossils in the area and thought that this might be the place. I marked it's location, then we continued on our way, knowing that we'd be coming back down later on. 

After the Ice Caves, on our way back to Bear Lake, we stopped and climbed up the road cut to take a look.  Sure enough, there were definitely fossils! 

In less than half an hour of looking, we ended up finding about two-dozen ammonites.  The quality isn't the best, but for ease of access and looking, it's hard to beat! Most of them were 1-3 inches in diameter. 

This spot up Paris Canyon is a great place to look for fossils near Bear Lake.  Easy access, abundant fossils, easy digging, and the cephalopods are pretty cool.  I'll be back to find more.

Nearest City: Paris, ID
Location: N° W°  Paris Canyon Road
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The Paris Ice Cave

Last weekend we went up to Bear Lake to play in the water and visit a few more places.  We decided to go visit the Paris Ice Cave. 

The cave isn't actually a true cave because it never really gets completely dark inside.  It's properly called a grotto, but a cave is a cave!  While there, you walk through a stone tunnel, then out into an open area, then crawl back into the cave.  It's fun and a lot of people do it. 

Here's a picture of the boardwalk through the tunnel.  It's at least a foot above the tunnel floor, which usually has ice and water in it.  The distance above varies with the level of the water. 

In the open area before going into the cave, we saw a few people rock climbing and doing a free-hanging rappell.  I'll have to come back and bring my rope.  It looked really fun!

On the other side of the open area, the roof gets low and you have to crouch/crawl through the opening into the cave.  It's not huge in there, but there's ice all year round. 

The road is passable for passenger cars, but if you have a low comfort level a few spots might make you uncomfortable.  It's easily doable if you take your time and enjoy the mountains.

Nearest City: Paris, ID
Location: N42° 13.910 W111° 33.625
Time Needed: a few hours (includes the drive)
Difficulty: Moderate (slick ice)
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Hagerman

On the way home from our great Pacific Northwest vacation, we stopped in Hagerman Idaho to see the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.  When we got there early in the morning, it was closed.  We took a little drive and found ourselves at the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery. 

 The best part of this stop was that I got to feed some sturgeon!  It's amazing what you can do if you just ask!  They were over 5 feet long and definitely better than feeding trout. 

 Back in town, the Hagerman NM visitor center was open.  They have a replica of a Hagerman Horse skeleton, and a few more exhibits, but really not much is there. 

Nearest City: Hagerman, ID
Location: N° W° Time Needed: Difficulty: Kid Friendly: Additional Info:

Formation Springs and Cave

Our last stop in the Soda Springs area was at Formation Springs.  This area is owned by the Nature Conservancy although their website doesn't contain much information on them.  I'm pretty sure it's overlooked by the vast majority of visitors to the Soda Springs area.  My best guess is they just stop to see the geyser and Hooper Springs.  It's their loss.

 Formation Springs is about 1/4 of a square mile, or 160 acres.  The area is packed with cold springs, spring deposits, and a cave.   Our first stop was at the cave. 

Apparently the cave is 1000 feet long, but we didn't explore the whole thing, since some of it looked like you needed to crawl through small spaces.  Right down the entrance whole, there are 3 directions you can choose from.  We didn't stay at the entrance long because of  a swarm of mosquitoes.  Straight ahead, the cave goes for a short distance.  The tunnel to your right (as you face the entrance) is longer, but the longest cave passage is the one to your left. 

The walls and ceiling are covered with cave popcorn.  The passageways are pretty amazing.  Take your time to enjoy them. 

After exploring the cave, we went over to see the springs.  They're equally amazing.  There is just pool after pool of crystal clear water.  I wondered if swimming was allowed, but kindof think that it's not. 

We wandered around the preserve enjoying the quiet beauty and continually finding new pools and things to see.  The water was amazingly fertile and places just teemed with freshwater shrimp. 

 If you need a place for quiet reflection, Formation Springs could definitely help restore some inner peace. 

Nearest City: Soda Springs, ID
Location: N° W°   Trail Canyon Road.
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Difficulty: Easy(springs) /Moderate (cave)
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Additional Info:  The preserve is only open during daylight hours.

The Carbonated Springs of Soda Springs

We stopped by a few of the "soda" springs outside of Soda Springs.  They kindof reminded us of the carbonated springs in Manitou Springs, but a little less refined.  Manitou Springs has pipes you can fill your bottles up from.  The ones here, you had to dip your bottle in yourself. 

Hooper Springs is a nice park north of Soda Springs.  It has a pretty big spring, and it's definitely carbonated.  I'd brought some drink mix and wanted to make my own grape soda.   We looked at the spring, noticed the bubbles coming up, looked at the sign that states pretty clearly that this is water for consumption and not for swimming, then looked at the sign that shows the mineral content of the water.  Somewhere in that time, some dirty chick had come up to the spring, sat down, and put her feet in.  EWWW GROSS!   I was pretty ticked off.  How nasty is that!?  Ok- so she wasn't dirty, but I certainly didn't want to drink out of where she'd just soaked her feet.  Some people! 

So having that aspect ruined for us, we wandered around the park a little bit.  It's a really nice nature park!  South of the spring is the outflow for some sort of reservoir, so we went to look at it. As we got close, the mosquitoes got pretty bad, so we didn't stick around. 

We also stopped by Octagon Spring, which is 1/4 mile from the Geyser.  It's just a pipe coming out of the ground with fizzing and a little water coming from it. 

The two springs left me wishing that Soda Springs had a similar arrangement as Manitou Springs, where there were pipes sticking out of the ground that you could fill bottles from. If it's culinary water, I'm all about keeping it sanitary!  Having to stick your hand in the pool to fill a bottle, or seeing someone put their stinky feet in the drinking water is enough to make my stomach churn.

Nearest City: Soda Springs, ID
Location: N° W°
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