Stuff on Us: Firehole Swimming Hole

So this was a memorable part of our trip. We were headed for Firehole Swimming Hole on our last morning in the Park. I was of half a mind to just skip it and keep going. So, I surveyed the crowd "who wants to go swimming?" Josh of course wanted to and Daniel and Macey said no. I almost, nearly, just about tried to talk Josh out of it but some small part of me insisted that I let him have whatever adventure he wanted to have and so we stopped. Thanks goodness for Josh and his ever-chipper mood!!

Daniel refused to get out...he was done with "adventures". Macey, grudgingly, agreed to go down, but not to swim. I did not even put my suit on. I figured Josh could dip his toes in, "swim" if he wanted and we'd be back to the car in 20 minutes. Josh, with joy, changed into his swimsuit and off we went.

The swimming hole is down a series of wooden stairs and across some rocks...only the nimble dare try it. We, of course, met the requirements. Once down to the actual level of the water, the water runs between a sand/dirt beach on one side and and woods that gradually rise to mountains on the far side. Past the "beach" the water spills over a wide, low waterfall so the "swimming area" is bound on the left by the swimming hole and the right by the waterfall. Since this is only one of two places in the park where you can legally swim, its not hard to see that the park might have viewed this as a relatively contained area which, all things considered, was safer than some other places might be.

The actual "swimming hole", perhaps 20 feet in diameter, is around a bend to the left and across a swath of foot-deep water (a foot with toes on it, not a foot as measured on a ruler). The water enters the swimming hole by pouring in between rising rocks in a rapid almost flat waterfall, swirling in the "hole" and then rushing out in the wider river. The hole is surrounded on the far side by slick rocks that rise far up into the sky and on the near side by underwater rocks that go from 5 inches under to 10 feet under in a space of no distance at all. The water is fast moving, reacting to the pressure from the rapids and spinning around the hole before it escapes to the river where the beach is. Its quite the set up. And quite cold.

Josh did some dipping on the beach and then we went across the very sharp, very slippery rocks to the swimming hole. A family of five was swimming there, the dad and the three kids in the water, the mom taking pictures. Seriously, if it were not for seeing them having so much fun we would have missed out on one of our favorite parts of the trip. We decided we would swim too, so I left J and M sittting on a log with very stern instructions and I went back up to the car to get Daniel and mine and Macey's swimsuits.

Daniel, in a fit of pique, refused to come down. Finally I just told him it was not negotiable, he had to get his suit and come down, I would not let him miss this. If, after getting down there he did not want to swim, I would not make him get in the water, but he DID have to come down. Boy was he pissed. I might as well have been telling him to clean toilets with his bare hands.

So, I changed into my suit right there on the side of the road in between the car doors. If someone had popped out of the woods right beside the car they would have had quite the view. Otherwise, no worries!

Down we went, Daniel pouting the whole way, me hoping that J and M actually did what I told them to do and stayed sitting. There they were, very obediently waiting for us. Macey changed behind a towel, Daniel stood there with his arms folded, and we went swimming. Daniel took some pictures but still refused to get into the water. Stinker. We swam for about 30 minutes, mostly in the hole itself, enjoying it immensely. The water was COLD, but once you were submerged it was certainly tolerable. We were nearly done when Daniel decided, well, it looks like too much fun and he had to join us. So we stayed for another half an hour so he could swim too. Very fun.

The one thing we did not do was hike around the big rocks and go down the rapids. The family that was there before us was going down in just their suits, the dad and the older kid anyway. Then as we were leaving there was a group of teenagers there with lifejackets going down the rapids. With the kids in tow, especially Josh, there was no way I could try it out. But its now on my bucket list for the next time I go to YNP...go down the rapids at the Firehole Swimming Hole.

A couple of other memorable moments...Macey's flip flops floating down the river, our clothes falling off a rock into the water and being rescued by a kind stranger, josh nearly losing his grip on the rocks and floating off down the river, finding the perfect "spot" to sit just in the swimming hole.