Saturday, April 11, 2015

J is for Jerry Johnson

Back in the day when I was a mere lad, there was no gate on the Warm Springs Creek packbridge across the Lochsa River at about mile 152 of Highway 12 coming down off of Lolo Pass heading west. That was quite the descriptive run-on there wasn't it? You could go into Jerry Johnson's just about any time you wanted. Which of course led to all sorts of crazy. The crazy is still there I suspect, it's just more restricted to when the gate is open.

Yes Jerry Johnson's Hot Springs are now known quantities and have been for a good long while. But they are still really neat things to see. There's three of them, one pouring out of a cliff face and into pools right next to the creek, while the others are set back off the creek and are more stand alone.

This is good and remote. Further down this stretch of Highway 12 is (or was) one of my favorite signs. I just wish I had a picture of it from back in the day "No Services for xx miles" - I want to say 63? can't remember the number. Narrow canyon, thick forest and emptiness. Can only imagine what this stretch was like for Lewis and Clark.

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