Oregon Trail, Pony Express, and soothing hot springs

Crystal Hot Springs campground, Honeyville, Utah.  The Travels of LynDen Haus today, August 15^th, took us across much of Wyoming from Rawlins (where we crossed the Continental Divide…twice, as it turns out; that’s a bit of geography for you) to Evanston via I-80, and then into the greater Salt Lake City area before turning north on I-84/I-15.  Between Laramie and Evanston, much of Wyoming is made up of the Great Divide Basin Desert.  And it certainly lived up to its name.  We had very little elevation to worry about and the Winnebago handled most of the grades quite handily at 60-65mph.  Only once or twice did the length of the grade slow us down to 45-50mph.  And we still averaged about 8.5mpg.  Anyway, we were glad to be out of this part of Wyoming and Evanston never looked so good.  We stopped at a rest stop/info center – actually on the edge of Bear River State Park – just east of Evanston and were greeted by a small herd of buffalo, with several calves.  It all made for a very nice picture and welcoming end to Wyoming’s desert areas.

We picked up I-84 about a half hour into Utah and headed north, skirting the Great Salt Lake, which we saw in the distance.  Always a wonderful sight.  We pulled into the Crystal Hot Springs campground around three, set up camp, changed into our swimming gear, and hit the several pools the campground features that are fed by natural hot springs.  Each pool is a slightly different temperature, so it was fun to move from pool to pool.  Sure felt good after today’s long drive.  This rural campground is certainly worth a look if anyone is traveling thru this area.  The nightly fees are quite reasonable ($22.50 for our Class A motorhome). Even the fee to use the hot spring was only $3.50 each; well worth it from my point of view.  The campground website is located at:   http://www.crystalhotsprings.net/

Tomorrow we head into Idaho and should cross the border by mid-morning.  I think we’ll hit Twin Falls, Idaho, probably by late morning.  Our destination for tomorrow night is on the Idaho-Oregon border at a campground on the Snake River.  That’ll be our last night on the road before arriving in Yakima, WA, and a few days visiting my Mom and my sister, Carolyn, and her family.  Won’t be long now!