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Steamboat Gulch is a small canyon terminating about a mile east on highway 21 from Idaho City, Idaho, USA. In this canyon is a tubing hill, referred to as the Steamboat Gulch Tubing Hill. The tubing hill is frequented by many in the winter months as a fun place to tube, snowmobile, winter picnic or just enjoy the crisp, clean outdoor winter weather. This image was taken on new-years day 2013 at the base of the main tubing runs.
It wasn't long ago that coming here meant you had to have a 4-wheel drive and if not a holiday, you might find you had the hill to yourself. As of late, the tubing hill is still free but someone has taken to clearing the half-mile road from highway 21 and parking lot and is charging $10/car-load to park. The clearing of the road and parking lot has enabled access to 2-wheel drive vehicles and the growing popularity of the place is now producing fairly large crowds. There were at least 200 people there the day this image was taken.
Many bring firewood, stoves and food and eat near their vehicles. It's not uncommon to smell hotdogs roasting, pots of chili brewing and heaven knows how many gallons of hot chocolate and coffee are on site.
Laughter is in the air, new friends made and a great time had by all. The tubing hills are moderate - not terribly steep but not slow either. The place has no official supervision or apparent management. There are no services of any kind any closer than the mile and a half drive back to Idaho City - so bring what you need to have a good time.
Don't have $10?... park 1000 feet down the road and walk. All the fun is then free. Oh, and bring your own first-aid kit if you're accident-prone.
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Idaho is a state located in the northwestern region of the United States of America. Idaho is the 14th largest state by area, ranks 39th by population and 53rd by population density of the 50 United States. Idaho was the 43rd state to be admitted into the Union, on July 3, 1890. Idaho is landlocked, being bordered by Canada on the north and the states of Washington and Oregon on the west, Nevada and Utah on the south and Montana and Wyoming on the east. Idaho is nicknamed "The Gem State" because nearly every known gemstone is found within the state. Idaho is also famous for producing about one third of all potatoes grown in the USA. Idaho also hosts the largest barrel cheese factory in the world, producing 120K metric tons of cheese per year. There is some ambiguity as to where the name "Idaho" came from, but it is generally believed to have simply been made up by George M. Willing. There is a possibility it was derived from a Native American phrase. Idaho is very mountainous and is a popular outing destination of the outdoorsman. The state population was about 1.58M in July 2011 with 84% being Caucasian, 11.2% Hispanic and 1.1% Native American. The state capital and largest city is Boise.Source: wikipedia
