Thursday August 14, 18.7mi/30.1km
MF Boise River (204.2/6270ft) to Decker Creek (186.5/7120ft) (ID) + 1.0mi hot springs
The sunrise is happening noticeably later these days, as it didn’t wake me up until almost 6:30. I left camp just after 7am and had a nice stroll down the remainder of the valley next to Middle Fork Boise River.
Apparently a bear had been using the trail recently too.
I love being surrounded by the granite mountains.
It was really quite impressive how nice some of the trails in the Sawtooths were.
As I neared the little historic mining town of Atlanta, I left the Sawtooth Wilderness for the last time.
I checked out the permit registration box, to see if there was anybody I knew. Nope. Just the usual comments about Hayduke.
I passed by the powerplant campground, which meant I was back in the front country. I decided to go check out the Greylock Hot Springs, which were right next to the MF Boise River.
The pools were quite shallow so I didn’t spend very long soaking there. I hiked 10 minutes down the dirt road and found Atlanta hot springs, which were much nicer.
Someone had clearly spent some time constructing this, with stone cemented into a nice little patio, and pipes bringing in the hot water. After about an hour, I decided to check out the third and final Hot Spring in this area, Chattanooga Hot Spring. The trail to get there was a little vague, and it was the most remote of the three hot springs, but it was also the coolest one. It’s a hot spring fed by a waterfall!
I enjoyed a nice soak sitting in that hot spring, watching the river flow by. Eventually my stomach started rumbling and I realized it was after 12 noon and I was hungry. So I left and finished the road walk into Atlanta. It was a neat little historic mining town. They fixed up the old church into a library.
And this old gas station seemed to be some sort of museum, though it was closed today.
And finally at the far edge of town I came to the only public business, the Beaver Lodge.
They serve lunch and dinner 6 days a week, and had a very kitschy rustic decor inside.
After enjoying a nice nice fried chicken sandwich, garden salad, ice cream, and a Coors to wash it down, I got my resupply box from the bartender. It seems I packed a little too much food, as it’s only 4 days / 100 miles to the next town. The staff was nice enough to let me charge some things and update my maps over their Wi-Fi, and after a couple hours I had finished everything I needed to do and left to continue exploring the town.
I think that was an old miners cabin, there were lots of little notes scattering around explaining mining techniques. And the other building was definitely an old jail.
Leaving town was a slow process, as I hiked a hot sunny dirt road up 1500 ft.
After a couple of miles I got to the trailhead, and I saw the landscape was devoid of trees, so the trail would also be in the hot sun. I decided to rest in the shade of the few trees at the trailhead, and read my book for awhile. After an hour the sun had lowered in the sky and it felt cooler, so I continued on the sunny trail.
Every time the trail crossed a little stream, there was a small grove of aspens.
It was amazing how quickly the climate had changed, now this trail feels like hiking in Northern Nevada again, mostly sagebrush except for the aspens near water. These bushes also grew pretty thickly on the hillsides of an old burn area.
I had planned on camping next to Flint Creek, which the guidebook promised had a little camp spot. When that turned out to be untrue, I had to continue another 3 miles to camp next to Decker Creek, which was the first spot I found that was flat, and without standing dead trees. It seems to be a nice little camp spot, tucked in a copse of green pine trees.