The Old Swimming Hole
There’s a favorite place for swimming that the locals know about in a very small town in Idaho called Chester. Word has spread and sometimes the local swimming hole can have up to fifty cars parked there in July. There are license plates on cars from places all over the country that seem to have heard about the swimming hole.
The tradition of this swimming hole has gone way back for four or five generations and who knows maybe even longer than that. My father used to enjoy the swimming hole after a long day working on the farm back in the 1930’s . The swimming hole was located on the Fall River right outside his back yard. When he was young he and his brothers would spend hours swimming and diving off flat lava rocks scattered around the swimming hole. After swimming, the flat black rocks had absorbed the warm sun and it was a great way to warm up after the cool refreshing dip in the water.
An initiation to manhood was jumping off the top of the Chester Bridge. I remember my father would do beautiful swam dives off the top and I used to always love to watch him dive. At least three generations have continued the tradition. Four or five guys will stand in a row on the bridge sometimes and dare each other to dive off first. I have seen four actually dive off together.
Through the years the Chester bridge started to wear out in the middle of the bridge so some kids brought a big hay derrick pole over and hooked up a Tarzan swing. It was great fun to swing off the side or the top of the bridge and do various tricks like somersaults and flips. Some Idaho officials decided it was too dangerous though, so they took out the derrick but then the next year another one would be brought back in and rigged up. The officials finally decided to fix the hole in the bridge so they weren’t able to do the Tarzan swing any more. Still, it is a favorite place for locals and travelers alike today.
My father missed the home place so much that in his seventies he decided to build a Cabin on the other side of the bridge across from the old home place. It is very close to the swimming hole. We christened the cabin “The Fall Inn” and all the family members love to go up and stay in the cabin and remember my dad and enjoy having a great time at the old swimming hole and diving off the old Chester bridge.
There’s a favorite place for swimming that the locals know about in a very small town in Idaho called Chester. Word has spread and sometimes the local swimming hole can have up to fifty cars parked there in July. There are license plates on cars from places all over the country that seem to have heard about the swimming hole.
The tradition of this swimming hole has gone way back for four or five generations and who knows maybe even longer than that. My father used to enjoy the swimming hole after a long day working on the farm back in the 1930’s . The swimming hole was located on the Fall River right outside his back yard. When he was young he and his brothers would spend hours swimming and diving off flat lava rocks scattered around the swimming hole. After swimming, the flat black rocks had absorbed the warm sun and it was a great way to warm up after the cool refreshing dip in the water.
An initiation to manhood was jumping off the top of the Chester Bridge. I remember my father would do beautiful swam dives off the top and I used to always love to watch him dive. At least three generations have continued the tradition. Four or five guys will stand in a row on the bridge sometimes and dare each other to dive off first. I have seen four actually dive off together.
Through the years the Chester bridge started to wear out in the middle of the bridge so some kids brought a big hay derrick pole over and hooked up a Tarzan swing. It was great fun to swing off the side or the top of the bridge and do various tricks like somersaults and flips. Some Idaho officials decided it was too dangerous though, so they took out the derrick but then the next year another one would be brought back in and rigged up. The officials finally decided to fix the hole in the bridge so they weren’t able to do the Tarzan swing any more. Still, it is a favorite place for locals and travelers alike today.
My father missed the home place so much that in his seventies he decided to build a Cabin on the other side of the bridge across from the old home place. It is very close to the swimming hole. We christened the cabin “The Fall Inn” and all the family members love to go up and stay in the cabin and remember my dad and enjoy having a great time at the old swimming hole and diving off the old Chester bridge.
