After a pleasant and peaceful morning in a empty campground in the trees along the Nork Fork Payette (a welcome reprieve from the sparsely trees and overpopulated South Fork campground we had been staying at for the packraft roundup), we started off on our long journey home. Instead of our westerly traverse of Nevada on the drive up, our app navigation had us cutting more easterly from Boise through Twin Falls, then more or less due south towards Las Vegas. It was well timed for lunch when we reached Twin Falls. As we stopped we were able to plan the remainder of our day. It was only a 3 mile detour to check out Shoshone Falls so we thought we might as well briefly be a tourist. And we had a plan of a remote Nevada hot spring and campground to end the day at that would put us within about 6 hours drive of home.
We drove through the entrance gate and down the narrow 1.3 lane road, clearly not designed for modern vehicles or motorhomes to arrive at a parking lot and grassy lawns. We strolled out to the main viewpoint to take in the view. The falls were intricate and impressive, really a cluster of over a dozen distinct falls at this flow. A classic rainbow arched in the mist below us and I could see the force of the spray kicking up waves along the entire base of the falls. I could enjoy looking at it and taking several sub-photos. I could appreciate the visual of the monumental Holocene megaflood that would have helped carve it. I could imagine the speed at which the waterfall would have retreated upstream as the gorge was carved and the inconceivable variety of past manifestations the waterfall might have made (perhaps past archways?). I could be jealous of the few kayaks we saw below the falls realizing with forethought we could have packrafted to the base of the falls. But after a few minutes of all that I was left with weird conflicted American feelings. That the fury of the falls was now carefully regulated by a powerplant. That the entire rim of the thousand foot falls was framed by weirs forming an unnatural perfect curtain of water marring the chaos below. That a community of expensive homes could be seen just beyond. That the park and this view only exists because some other rich people donated the land to the city for non-commercial public use. After taking in the view we started walking the trail to the second viewpoint further along but the trail was closed off and entry was barred. It was probably just as well so we continued our drive.
Almost immediately after crossing the Idaho border we entered classic Nevada Basin & Range landscapes. Scrubby valleys and rocky ridges for hours. The further south we drove the more the air quality improved and cumulous clouds began to swarm.
In the late afternoon we turned off on a nondescript dirt road, perhaps the hundredth such one we had passed in Nevada that day, and drove a few miles to the middle of the 20 mile-wide White River Valley. Here a stand of cottonwood trees marked an otherwise sparse free campground and just a mile beyond the hot spring. "Hot" was an overly generous suggestion and we instead found the pool to be pool-temperature warm. What it lacked in therms it more than made up for with its clear blue waters that approached invisibility other than the mirrored reflection of clouds on its surface. We soaked in the ethereal waters for the better part of an hour, enjoying the center of the world feeling the broad expense around us gave off and the vibrant life of this desert oasis. Minnow-sized Moorman White River Springfish, which are only found in three springs in the world, nibbled at our feet and legs while bright red crayfish patrolled the boulders at the water's edge and bird and then bats flitted overhead. A bright green frog watched us cautiously. Looking down to the bottom of the shoulder-depth water we could see every pebble with crystal clarity. After watching the sunlight chase its way up the mountains to the east, we toweled off and drove a short mile to settle into the campground for the night.
There was not much to report for the following day's drive back to Riverside other than the White River Narrows being a new and interesting stretch of drive for the both of us.
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