Swimming in Warm River, ID

After setting up camp and picking up Cathi's Marathon packet, we took the kayaks to the top of Warm River and let the kids take several trips down the river.  They had a blast.  After about 10 trips I was beat and ready to get in the water myself!

We found a nice place where the water was deep enough to swim and seemed fast enough to swim upstream like an endless pool.  The water was cold!  It was 61.1° F and I haven't been in water that cold for a long time!  Once I got in I felt fine and was able to not only swim in place but swim upstream just a little.  Every couple minutes I'd float back down a little so that I could go back to swimming right in front of Cathi who was sitting in a camp chair in the shade of a tree right at the river's edge.

I saw some fish swimming ahead of me in the water and yelled out for Jacob and he was in the water within a minute searching for fish.  The other kids were deterred too much by the temperature and didn't get in.  I was able to get within inches of the fish, but never was able to touch them.  They were just too fast.  It was really cool to see so many of them in the water.  I had just as much fun watching them as I was getting in a workout.  I spent 40 minutes swimming upstream so I figure it was equivalent to a mile.  I was shivering a few minutes after getting out and got a hot chocolate at the Jubilee Market in Ashton.

Looking at the pictures from this trip, it really is a wonder I get hypothermia at all.  I really am quite a pudgy dude!


1 Mile Total

What I look like to a fish under the water.  No wonder they swim away!
What an ugly dude!