Chesterfield Reservoir & Lava Hot Springs
📍 Chesterfield & Lava Hot Springs, ID
Plans were: get the canoes off the truck, get the dust off of them — and us!
Well, when we see one of these, the truck — or driver — automatically turns toward the area.
Before we could advance to Chesterfield, we had to wait for a train to move on. I love the graffiti.
Chesterfield
So… Chesterfield is a preserved historic townsite. It’s an old Mormon settlement. At its peak, it had a population of 400. Brutal winters, severe droughts, and the railroad’s decision to put tracks 14 miles away led to its decline.
This gas pump is something I have seen on American Pickers…
Chesterfield Reservoir
On the way into Chesterfield the town, we saw a sign for Chesterfield Reservoir. So, change of plan. We decided to check it out and possibly put in our canoes.
Good news. We found this lovely place where we could easily put them in. If we had brought out our fishing poles — and gone online to get an Idaho fishing license 😇 — we could have fished for trout. No catch and release here!
The weather was perfect.
Birds at the Reservoir
When I looked into it, I saw 117 types of birds have been spotted at this reservoir. A Yellow-headed Blackbird was the wanderer on the beach. The ones I think I saw were Cinnamon Teal ducks, American coot, Willet, and one bird that dove underwater to get small fish.
I found American White Pelicans close enough to capture. Good thing I have the 8x magnification on my phone as I could not get close enough to really capture them.
Knox Farm
On the way back into town for a late lunch, we passed this lovely place, an equestrian center and house on 89 acres: MLS #573057.
Crystal — win the lottery and retire here!
I did not take these pictures; they were posted on Zillow. Knox Farm Equine Center in Bancroft, Idaho. Asking price: $3,500,000.
Lunch & Gelato
We headed back to Lava Hot Springs and downtown to the Eruption Brewery for a late lunch and ran into Doug. We all ordered bison burgers. Delicious with beer-battered Idaho potatoes.
Walking back to the trucks, we could not pass up the lure of gelato… This cafe had ingenious names for their coffee choices. And a source of their beans was Ethiopia? I never heard of beans from Ethiopia.
“Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things — the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.”
— Susan Orlean