Land of Yankee Fork State Park

The weather here in Idaho has been perfect for sleeping. The nights are cool but not cold, and we have been leaving the door to the guest bedroom cracked with the screen in place most nights. We awoke this morning at 4 am when a group of coyotes were singing in the desert not far from the house. We hear coyotes at home in Kentucky a good bit when the weather permits sleeping with the windows open.

We had a variety of cold cereals for breakfast since we were hoping for an early departure to visit the Sunbeam Hot Springs on the Salmon River as well as some old mining ghost towns.

Bison Jump at Challis, ID

Our first stop was in Challis at Land of Yankee Fork State Park where the visitor center has information on the ghost towns that we hoped to visit as well as a cliff where early Native Americans herded bison to fall to their death. While we were there, Cindy learned about the Idaho State Parks Passport that allows annual unlimited admission and parking for a single fee.

We continued south on Idaho Rt. 75 to the Sunbeam Hot Springs where a multitude of thermal springs empty into the cool Salmon River. Locals and visitors alike enjoy finding pools where the hot and cool water blend to create the perfect bathing temperature. We didn’t bring bathing suits so we didn’t stay long.

We drove up a narrow road to the abandoned mining town of Bonanza, Idaho. This gold mining boom town was settled in 1877 and within a few years had a population over 600 people hoping to get rich from gold found in the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. However, as with most mining boom towns, few actually got rich and the town’s population quickly dwindled. The giant dredge in nearby Custer, Idaho pulled many residents away, then a fire in 1889 destroyed most of the town. We walked around the few dilapidated buildings remaining in Bonanza then drove on toward Custer only a few miles beyond.

One the way to Custer we stopped at the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, a giant ship that was brought to the Yankee Fork between Custer and Bonanza in 1939. This nearly 1000 ton ship is 112 feet long and had 72 buckets that could each hold 8 cubic feet of earth and bring material from up to 35 feet deep in the streambed. The stream isn’t nearly large enough to float the large ship, but dredging created its own lake for the vessel. Material from the streambed would be scooped up by the 72 buckets and brought into the shop where it would be crushed and heavier gold would be collected. The remaining rock or tailings would be dispersed from the rear of the ship, filling in the area that had been previously dredged. The dredge was closed to visitors when we were there, but we walked around and read the interpretative signs before moving on to the Custer ghost town.

Like Bonanza, Custer was settled in the late 1870s by those looking to make their fortunes in gold. A giant stamp mill was completed in Custer to process gold from the ore gathered there. Custer quickly became a thriving town with laundries, a harness shop, five saloons, three stores, three boarding houses and a hotel. However, there is no record of a church ever being established in Custer. By 1911 only two families lived in Custer. The town of Custer was much better preserved than Bonanza and appeared to have a seasonal convenience store and gift shop in the old Empire Saloon building. Signs all through the town explained the role and history of the remaining buildings and the sites where former buildings had stood. We walked up to the Custer Cemetery where the park service had replaced many of the markers from residents buried there over 100 years ago.

Salmon in the Salmon River

After leaving Custer, we continued south on Rt. 75 through the small Idaho town of Stanley in the Sawtooth Mountain Range. We drove to Redfish Lake, a popular recreation and fishing spot in the mountains. We got out and walked around the Buckhorn Bridge area on the Salmon River and spotted many huge dead and dying Chinook salmon who had completed their spawning and were exhausted from the trip from the Pacific Ocean. There were many steelhead salmon in the stream, although they were harder to see. Mark and Cindy pointed out a couple of sockeye salmon that were brilliant red in their spawning colors. We enjoyed the walk and seeing the fish that had survived all of the obstacles to get to these streams to complete their life cycle.

After leaving the Redfish Lake area, we drove back north on Rt. 75 to Challis and found the Tea Cup Café & Bakery where Cindy reported getting excellent pizza made to order in their wood fired ovens. When we arrived the lady at the counter told us that they were very short handed and that our meal would not be quick to arrive. Since we were not in a hurry we agreed and found a table in the nearly empty restaurant. We ordered two pizzas with marinara sauce and Italian sausage. We enjoyed visiting and chatting with the Whittingtons until we noticed that over two hours had passed since we ordered. Cindy inquired about the status of our orders and the manager apologized that our order had blown off the table and had not been started. She gave us a complementary vegetable pizza to hold us over until our order was ready. The two pizzas arrived fairly quickly. We enjoyed them and knew that the delay would give us a good story. Although the manager wanted to discount our meal, Cindy insisted on paying but agreed on a couple of complementary macaroons for dessert. We kept these for another day since we were too full to enjoy them at this time.