#409 Warm Springs Canyon Dispersed Camping, Ketchum Idaho

We found Twin Falls pretty hot and we were hoping if we could find some higher elevations it might be more favorable to cooler temperatures. We had stayed in Ketchum a few years back and I hoped to repeat the same experience this time. We were early in our Idaho experience as we had planned on staying the whole summer but Ketchum had a lot to offer as far as utopia goes. It was beautiful there was no UU nearby but they had a movie theater hardware store and about everything else. The last time we stayed I found a little pull out along warm springs road that goes down towards a hot spring on the river and I hoped to find it available again. The only real downside was the last time it was pretty tight to get into and we barely fit the rig in there without blocking a dirt road. It wasn't an official site but it was within the national forest boundaries so I think it was okay just a little sketchy but it was right on the river and I remember that being wonderful.

We filled our fresh tank with water and we headed that way. We went on down the road and found the exact spot where we had been in the past. It looked even smaller this time but up on the left, I saw an interesting area and it was a perfectly legit camping section with a fire ring and it was legal and available, huge, and also by the river. I felt lucky to have found it and we pulled in and stayed four nights. I made a video of how pleased I was when we landed here.

I went to the hot springs twice and had a very nice soak on each visit. The second time I met a nice gentleman and his family. He came on over but his family was a little skittish. You have to walk across a waist-high chilly river to get to the hot springs and it scared them.

We had a nice talk and at a glance, it looks like they might have been just making ends meet. Maybe a janitor or a cab driver. It turns out he was a physician so I always felt a little weird about not knowing anything about a person's background and not judging them because how do I know he probably makes 10 times more money than I ever saw. It's nice to not judge so I had to kind of check myself that way mentally. Instead of assuming anything I just allowed the conversation to flow without trying to size him up which was wise because I would have guessed wrong.

We went into Ketchum regularly because it was nice to have dinners out since we were having a very affordable free place to stay.

I had been looking at potential future sites on freecamp.net and one of them was a bit of a drive. The road taking you there just went on forever into the wilderness.

There were a lot of sites that were kind of close to the water but there were all taken by someone else and anything that would be doable was getting several miles away from the main road.

If possible I wanted to be down by the water. I had bought an ozone water purifier and intended to use river water for bathing so we could boondock a lot by rivers all during the summer.

We also had made a reservation down below Ketchum for about a week because we were feeling a little desperate and we wanted to ride down and look at it to make sure we liked it. Sadly, we passed because it was a dump. A lot of long-term people staying there forever, mostly worker bees. We canceled the reservation as it was not where we wanted it to be.

At our site in Ketchum, there was a sign saying that three days was the maximum time you could stay at this site. Usually, it would be 14 but I guess it's a little too popular for that so we pushed it by one day but on day 5 we knew it was time to go.

We had no trouble at all and it was a wonderful place to stay. There were other possibilities further down on Warm Springs Road and some of them were pretty inviting but had no internet and nothing was really on the water. There were several options if I wanted to bounce around but I just was gonna play it by ear and mostly keep exploring and see what turns up.

We were hanging out at the rig one afternoon and if we were back home I would have said you know it looks like it would rain if it wanted to. It had not rained for us since December and this was June but sure enough, it began to drizzle and then a decent little rain for about 15 minutes. We just wanted to stand out there and look up in the sky and enjoy it. We had seen so much drought it was so refreshing to finally see some rain.

We had made reservations in the San Diego area called Lake Jennings for three months starting in December. We were already covered but there were quite a few coyotes there and that spooked us a bit as it pertains to Bert getting eaten. Just for fun, I typed in campground hosts in Southern California and one popped up right away called Neal Taylor Nature Center in Santa Barbara. I contacted them in the normal way asking if they were still looking for someone. I dialed the number for the Nature Center and left messages but never heard anything back. I left an email and it took a little while but I finally got an answer saying they were interested and I was pleasantly surprised. I did not cancel the reservations at San Diego because we would have to see how it played out.

One afternoon in Ketchum we had a call from the executive director Julie and had a nice conversation. She wanted to know what my expectations were and I said well the ad said September till April. She said I need someone right now as I've had a vacancy and I have to fill it. I had already decided I wanted to do it because hosting in Southern California would be better than paying $1,000 a month in California. I told her we were in Idaho and she said when could you be here? I hesitated as much as possible and she said could you be here in 30 days. I looked at India like is this ok? and she gave me the nod so I answered was yes and I felt like it was good for everybody. I felt as if I said I would rather just come in September the job would be filled and there would be no job so we decided to go ahead and take it. This would mean visiting a bit in Idaho and then heading on down the road pretty soon so then and I had to start making a plan. Our next stop would be a little further north at a place called Stanley.

Sawtooth National Forest

NF-227 Ketchum, ID

GPS: 43.6732, -114.4301