Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, Plus, Check Out The Food Rating

Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, was our next place to stay. We got to Lava Campground (as opposed to KOA Lava Campground that comes up on google) at check in time, 3:00 p.m. The email instructions said to go straight to our site. The trees on the mountains are gorgeous! You have the green pine trees and then patches and swaths of yellow and a lot of red. Beautiful. We camped here the first week of October, 2020, and the colors were just as stunning. 

Off to Lava Hot Springs. We learned from Autio (footnote 1) that the Oregon Trail went right past Lava Hot Springs. For many years before, Native Americans would come to these hot springs for healing and spiritual connection. The tribes wouldn’t fight right here; they would share the water. The pools have no sulfur, which is awesome, so no bad smells. Love that! The price is $12.00 a person and it is every time you enter. If you leave, you have to pay it again. 

There are 5 pools and the coldest one is 103°. The hottest is 112°. We went right to the coldest one, where most all the people were. The water felt wonderful and we enjoyed the peace. Well, the highway is right next to it up on the mountain so I am sure it gets loud. HA Good thing I am deaf! LOL The time flew by and we were there for several hours until we got hungry.

We laid around the next morning and read our books. At noon we went back to Lava Hot Springs pool. It felt so good. The temps outside was in the high 60s by this time and soon was in the low 70s. We stayed in the 102-105° pool. Around 4:00 my brother and sister-in-law came. We had invited them to camp with us back when we made the reservations. They ended up just driving up here for a few hours and then headed home. It was fun to catch up while enjoying the hot springs and then at dinner. It was nice knowing we would see them off and on over the next few weeks.

A beautiful double rainbow followed us for quite a ways as we were around the Utah/Idaho border. In fact, we saw at least 3 vehicles pulled over to the side of I-15 with people outside taking pictures of it. The colors were bright. 

We got to JC’s Diner in Tremonton, UT just at 11:00 a.m. They open at 6:00 a.m. Now let me say, we have traveled all over the country and I usually order chicken fried steak. There is no where that compares to the fantastic taste of chicken fried steak as right here. The breading is thin and simple; the menu says “a few seasonings.” It is crispy and the meat is so tender I cut it with a fork! Not chewy one bit. I ordered mashed potatoes and the lady said she wasn’t sure if they were cooked yet and what other side did I want. I said, “none.” HAHA Yes, the mashed potatoes were done. Whew! The scones (outside of Utah people call this Indian or Navaho Fried Bread) are so soft and delicious – the best! Rated: Literally, Every Time We Are Within 200 Miles Of This Diner We Come Here; Best Chicken Fried Steak In This Whole Country!!! 

Over the next two weeks we enjoyed visiting my parents, siblings and spouses, and friends. I will post some scenery pictures next week. 🙂 

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. Autio is an iPhone app that tells all sorts of history and stories about places all over the country. It is narrated and with my iPhone on accessibility, it shows captions of the words being said. So thankful!