Snowslide is an unofficial natural swimming hole tucked along Lick Creek Road in the mountains east of McCall, Idaho, where a mountain stream spills over and around great slabs of ancient granite to form a cold, crystalline pool in the heart of the Payette National Forest. The granite is the star of the show: boulders and outcroppings worn smooth over millennia stack into natural ledges and shelves that double as sunning platforms above the water, and towering ponderosa pines, subalpine fir and aspen press close on every side, giving the spot the deep green silence of a high Idaho forest.

Getting there is a scenic drive rather than a hike, on one of the prettiest backroads in the McCall area. From the four-way stop near Davis Street and the Ponderosa State Park entrance, turn east onto Lick Creek Road and follow it up into the forest; after a few miles the road passes the fork toward Little Payette Lake and climbs on toward the Lick Creek summit, the pavement giving way to dirt as it goes. Somewhere around the twelve- to thirteen-mile mark, just before the Snowslide Lake Trailhead on the right, watch the stream on the right side of the road for the granite outcropping and the clear pool cupped below it.

Many visitors turn the stop into a bigger day by tackling the Snowslide Lake Trail from the nearby trailhead, a short but genuinely strenuous roughly 4.5-mile out-and-back that climbs a steep, bouldery, hand-over-foot path through brush and aspen to a granite-walled subalpine lake, with Snowslide Peak rising above. The swimming hole makes a perfect cool-down at the bottom either before or after that climb.

The water is snowmelt-cold straight off the high country, so it is a bracing plunge best enjoyed on a hot summer afternoon once the road has cleared of snow, roughly July through September; Lick Creek Road is closed by snow in the colder months. There are no facilities, no signs and no lifeguards, the granite is slippery where it is wet, and this is bear country, so come self-sufficient and mind your footing. For a quiet, scenic granite swimming hole on a gorgeous forest backroad, with an optional alpine-lake hike attached, Snowslide is one of the McCall area's local gems.

Knox is a wide, pool-filled stretch of the South Fork of the Salmon River near Warm Lake, east of Cascade, Idaho, in the Boise National Forest, prized for its sandy-bottomed pools and grassy banks that make it a fine spot for a swim and a streamside picnic. It sits near Knox Ranch, a historic mining settlement in the mountains above Cascade, in a quiet corner of central Idaho's high country where the South Fork runs clear and cold through a forest of towering old-growth ponderosa pine.

To reach it, drive south from McCall or north from the town of Cascade and turn east onto the Warm Lake Road, Forest Road 22, which climbs over the divide toward Warm Lake. Just before the lake, turn north onto a single-lane paved road that follows the South Fork of the Salmon River upstream, and park right away. From the pullout, walk up and over a low embankment on the side away from the river, cross the wood fence around the old Knox Ranch meadow, and drop down the hill to the water, where the current spreads into a series of calm, clear pools with sandy bottoms and grassy places to spread out a blanket.

The setting is classic central-Idaho backcountry. The South Fork is one of the state's great rivers, famous both for its fishing, with Chinook salmon, steelhead and smallmouth bass, and as a remote, exceptionally scenic multi-day whitewater run further downstream. The surrounding forest teems with wildlife, from deer, elk and bears to eagles, osprey and otters, and summer brings wildflowers and butterflies to the meadows.

The whole Warm Lake area is a popular summer escape, with Warm Lake itself, its lodges, and the Billy Rice day-use swim beach on the north shore only a short drive away, plus campgrounds, boating and miles of trails. The water at Knox is mountain-cold and the season is short, roughly July into September once the high roads open, and it is an undeveloped spot with no facilities, so come prepared. Peaceful, scenic and well off the beaten path, Knox rewards the drive for anyone after a quiet river swim in the Idaho pines.