Mile-16 Hot Spring in Idaho Revisited

7.18.2005

It's always nice to visit good ol M-16; this visit however was one of my least enjoyed. Upon arrival we picked up more trash than I've ever witnessed here. Plus, someone tinkered with the metal pipe that delivers the hot water into the pool. They diverted the main flow from the pipe that feeds the pool to a lower pool that can only be usable in low-water conditions (spring runoff will destroy anything below the mortar reinforced pool). They did a crap job; the big pool is now below 100º when it used to be a reliable and perfect 102º, and the new lower pool's water temperature is a mere couple degrees above that of the river. Nice going guys. Not only was the environment altered, trashed and trampled, but the housing in which the main pipe 'plugs' into the source has been cracked and damaged. I have a real strong feeling that Chinook anglers are responsible for this as the big fishing season just ended in this area. The anglers always leave the area trashed - every year, never fail. I know there are environmentally friendly anglers out there; but they are too few in number.
Rating C+

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

No fun, and I like to visit this site. Thanks for picking up the junk and (I assume) fixing the feeder line. Living as far away from it as I do a soak at MP16 means a weekend of driving (usually with visits to additional nearby soaks). Showing up late some Friday night, stumbeling around in the spring rain all to discover that a couple of dirty schmucks borked up a nice spring soak kind of sucks.