Combine hiking, Rafting, and Mountain Biking with Escape Adventures Multi-Sport Mountain Bike tour of the Idaho Hot Springs.
Our Backcountry Hot Springs/multi-sport tour showcases the magnificent Sawtooth Mountain Range, in Idaho’s lower midsection. You want to talk American Exceptionalism, this national recreation area, comprised of The Boise, Sawtooth and Challis National Forests—largest set aside in the continental United States—borders a vast, textbook wilderness marked by a staggering 587,000-acres of road-less area. In terms of reference points, you’re one and a half hours north of Boise: the Stanley Basin, a chunk of the Idaho Batholith, plus the physically striking Sawtooths to the east represents our ingress, or gateway to all manner of outstanding adventure pursuits.
High in the 2,612,703-acre Boise National Forest, beholding a 50-mile horizon, we submerge ourselves for the next six days. Think quick descents on nimble, do-it-all mountain bikes; rolling high ridges, navigating the forests that feed broad grasslands. Below the trail loom some of the best trout fishing holes in The West. The regulars we might meet: Bull Moose, bear, deer and elk. This high country blends hiking with mountain biking, whitewater rafting with glorious soaks in the area’s abundant natural hot springs! Speaking to the latter, some are signed. While only tall columns of steam give others away. Mineral-suffused, the hot springs we drop into are clean, delightfully secluded, all at various depths if not degrees. Put another way: You might have a cozy two-seater with a sandy bottom all to yourself; or we’ll share warm, connected earthen pools fed by multiple waterfalls. Seriously, it doesn’t get any better.
Our days will unfold at anywhere from 4,400-feet to 8,000 feet. Likewise, each night’s campsite differs just as widely. One day we rest and recline in backcountry style, surrounded by tall, sloping grasslands. The next finds us around a fantastic campfire, beneath owls and shooting stars, swept up in the sway of endless coniferous forest: from Ponderosa, Lodgepole and Whitebark pine to Western larch, Douglas fir and Englemann spruce. The ambient then transitions to a soothing-constant churn when the shore above a whitewater river becomes our home for a night. Each day’s stunning beauty, sights and sounds, complements and perfects the next.
At a fitness and technical level of 1-2, this multi-sport adventure is a perfect choice for family vacations, couples retreats, or corporate outings. For more information click HERE and request a detailed itinerary.
