Day 113 - Shoshone Falls & Lava Hot Springs, ID

One positive about all the wind last night was that the tent had dried out by the morning, the worst thing about camping is putting away a wet tent!

The land around the Craters of the Moon National Monument is similar to other more western states with fields of crops and animals scattered between areas of rocks, and in this case, lava flow.

We were headed towards the city of Twin Falls to see the Niagara Falls of the West. As we came into this city, we saw the very impressive Snake River Canyon. We stopped off at the visitors center which is located right on the edge of the Canyon, to take some pictures.

As we were taking pictures, we noticed behind us a sign for the outdoor store Dicks. We hadn't visited a Dicks yet and we needed something to warm us up at night as we were about to head into what is currently the coldest place in the USA. Even colder then Sequoia and the Redwoods, Yellowstone. Lee was considering a new tent, something smaller with no airflow and good enough to pitch in the arctic, I was looking for some sort of heater. Instead, we came out with 2 mummy sleeping bags. The logic was that in very cold weather, we would double bag ourselves in our two sleeping bags. It was cheaper than a new tent and probably safer than a tent heater. Lee also came out with a axe. Apparently to make a proper fire, you first have to make some sweat through chopping wood because the pre-chopped wood is just not good enough.

We jumped back in the car, squeezing in the sleeping bags to whatever space we could find and headed for Shoshone Falls. The falls are located in a state park but the entry fee was only $3 per car. We paid our fee, parked up and where blown away at the size and the beauty of these falls. Normally we laugh at the names "X of the west / east" but these falls really are as impressive as Niagara. 

We had planned to stay in the Thunderbird Motel tonight in the town of Pocatello. There was nothing we had planned to see in Pocatello, we just wanted to get as many miles in today to make the journey tomorrow into the Grand Tetons as easy as possible. I booked most of the hotels but Lee did this one. He was so pleased with himself for finding a motel for only $30 per night but I had a feeling that there was a reason for this cheap rate and it wasn't going to be a good. A check on Tripadvisor showed this motel had 3 stars, it looked clean and comfortable but the area it was located in was a little 'sketchy'. One review from 2016 talked about how a SWAT team was used to arrest the man in the room next to him who was involved in a shooting, another talked about parole officers searching for people and drugs being sold in the car park and there were a few posts mentioning the creepy cemetery on the opposite side of the road. We both decided there were better places to stay so we cancelled the reservation and searched for surrounding towns.

The Town of Lava Hot Springs was not far from Pocatello and we found a KOA (one of two in the town) which was walking distance to the main street and the Hot Springs. It cost a little more than the Thunderbird but we decided it was worth it for a good nights sleep!

The KOA Lava Hot Springs is an awesome campsite. The bath house was the best we have seen out of all the campsites we have visited. Each room in the bathhouse is a spacious, clean and modern bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink. There was a large laundry room so we could get some washing done and our site was on well looked after grass next to the river with our own spigot and fire pit. 

For such a small town, there are only about 500 people who live here, there is a lot to do. We would have loved to tube down the river but it was unseasonably cold and windy so instead headed to the Hot Springs, a 10 minute walk from our campsite.

Access passes to the pools was cheap. It only cost us $6 each for a whole days entry pass and with the pools open from 8am until 11pm, you could keep come back to relax and unwind. A natural underground spring fill the 5 pools with temperatures ranging from 102˚ to 112˚ degrees. My favourite was the 105˚ but Lee enjoyed going right up to the entrance of the spring in the 112˚ pool which was too hot for me.

After spending about an hour in the different pools, we dried off and headed to town for some dinner. The lady who checked us into the campsite had recommended Chuck Wagon for dinner and then her favourite bar in town for drinks, Wagon Wheel. We followed her recommendation was not disappointed. We enjoyed sitting in the bar of the Wagon Wheel chatting with the friendly locals and meeting other tourists, all of which were also camping.

We eventually headed back to our tent and found the wind had died down so we could have a peaceful nights sleep.

Additional Notes

On our way to Lava Hot Springs, we went via the Thunderbird Motel partly we were curious as to how shady this area of town really was and partly we wanted to make sure we had made the right decision. 

The hotel looked OK from the outside, the cemetery didn't look as scary as we thought it would be (although we visited during the day) and we didn't see any dodgy goings on in the car park but it is not in a great part of town. We wouldn't have felt comfortable walking around at night and there was so little around the hotel, we would have ended up staying in our room and ordering take out.

We made the right decision