Day 17: Excursion to Renova Hot Spring

July 25, 2024

Today is not a travel day, but it's also not a rest day. I will do a strenuous out and back excursion to remote Renova Hot Spring which I have never visited.

The weather forecast is hot. I hoped to get an early start but didn't get on the road until 8:30.

The sky was mostly overcast when I started, but the clouds slowly dissipated during the morning. It was mostly sunny by 10 AM.

Crossing Spring Creek. Mostly cloudy early in the morning.

No smoke today! Today is the clearest day I have seen in about a week. I appreciated the clear mountain views after so many days of being denied clear views.

The first half of my route is paved. Flat near the river for the first 3 miles leaving Whitehall. Then quite hilly. It wasn't obvious why the road needs to climb hundreds of feet above the river valley.

The paved road has a big hill climb but the unpaved road has an even bigger hill climb. Again it wasn't obvious why the road needs to climb so high, but I enjoyed the panoramic views during the climb and the long descent.

My destination is Renova Hot Spring which is a natural undeveloped hot spring just a few feet from the road. The hot spring flows into a side channel of the Jefferson river. The two main source seeps are extremely hot, about 130F. I measured all the pools with my probe thermometer. The two source pools were about 120F. The coolest pool I could find was 109F. Soakable, but too hot to get fully immersed and soak for a long time. Actually it was impossible to get fully immersed because the pools were only about 10 inches deep in the deepest sections.

Upper pools at Renova Hot Spring. The 130F source flows in from the lower right.

The middle section of the hot spring area has a deeper stone pool but it now has almost no flow. The temperature was only about 75F.

Middle pools at Renova hot spring. Not much flow.

This is not a good time to visit Renova Hot Spring because the Jefferson river is 3 inches too low to mix into the hot pools. The river channel temperature was a soakable 100F, but it was only about 2 inches deep.

Lower pools at Renova hot spring. 130F source in lower right. I soaked in the most distant pool.

I soaked for about 40 minutes sitting in the coolest pool I could find. 109F. Only my legs and butt were in the hot water. After a few minutes I started to sweat profusely, so my upper body got massive evaporative cooling in the brisk wind while my lower body was roasting. If I drove to the hot spring I would carry a bucket which would allow me to cool a pool somewhat with river water.

Only one car drove by while I was soaking. Another car showed up just as I was leaving. It was two women from Florida who came to see the hot spring. They had never soaked in a hot spring before. It told them that the coolest pool was 109F. They were willing to give it a try, not concerned that it has no shade and the air temperature was 90F and rising. 90's is no big deal for Florida people.

The ride back to Whitehall begins with a steep 300 foot climb on the dirt road. It was hot! But the views were outstanding. I'm still appreciating the spell of no smoke.

The gravel road passes fenced grazing land, but no houses. It had maybe 1 car every 15 minutes.

This structure probably supported a water tank.

I crossed the Jefferson river when returning to Whitehall. Today's excursion was upstream on the east side of the river. Tomorrow I pedal upstream on the west side of the river.

Crossing the Jefferson river near Whitehall.

It was really hot, but I stopped to take a couple more photos in Whitehall. I presume the mural depicts the Jefferson River canyon that I saw yesterday.

I got back to my motel at 12:50 PM. Temperature was 89F. I had lunch at the KFC across the street. My first time to have a KFC chicken pot pie. In the afternoon I did my usual chores. Laundry, shave. I also reserved a motel in Ritzville, Washington for the drive home.

My motel room has two doors. The front door opens to the parking lot.

I don't often post photos of ordinary motel rooms, but this one is unusual. I mainly used the "front" door that opens to the parking lot outside the building. But my room also has a "back" door that opens to an interior hallway. I used that door when getting breakfast or ice.

The back door opens to an interior hallway.

Just for laughs I took a photo of my laundry. Every 3 days I hand wash my shirt, 3 cycling shorts, and 1 pair of wool socks. I wash them in the motel sink using liquid laundry detergent that I carry. I rinse them in the sink, usually 3 times. Then I put each garment in a ball and squeeze out as much water as I can. Then I wrap each garment in a bath towel to remove even more water. Then I hang the clothes. Wrapping them in the towel first ensures that they don't drip and are always dry by morning.

Cycling clothes that I hand wash every 3 days.

I typically never wash my non-cycling clothes during a tour. On the longest tours I sometimes wash everything at a laundromat during the middle of the tour.

I had dinner again at the Two Bit Saloon and Grill. Tonight it was nearly deserted. It was crowded last night.

Today had a high of 95F. Still above normal. But today had an awesome few hours of smoke free sky. Unfortunately, the afternoon had a strong southwest wind that blew in more smoke.

I lost my Take-A-Look rearview mirror yesterday when checking in to the motel. I put it down on the bike when I arrived at the motel office and couldn't find it when I got to my room 100 feet away. I searched the ground outside, my panniers, the office, and my room. No mirror. Good thing I carry a spare. It's extremely important because it's anatomically impossible for me to look over my shoulder in a reclining position.

The morning excursion was very strenuous, but I had all afternoon to rest and recover for tomorrow's long ride.

Distance: 23.4 miles, half unpaved
Average Speed: 8.9 mph
Ascent/Descent: +893/-893 feet

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 646 miles (1,040 km)

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