Posts Tagged hot springs
Posted on January 19, 2010 by angela
We headed across New Mexico to the Gila National Forest. The Cliff Dwellings and hot springs are 2 hours from the closest town of Silver City. The drive was stellar. There are towers of rock that formed these amazing structures. I’ve never seen anything like them.
We arrived after 4 so we headed to the privately owned hot springs a coupe miles from the park. Sweet deal. 3 different pools, all with a beautiful red rock cliff background. We decided to camp there, despite the dropping temperatures. The hot springs were about 10 steps from our van, so we could easily have a dip to warm up. We were pretty cold overnight and woke to find ice on the walls of the van. Everything was frozen and we waited as long as we could for the sun to come over the mountains and hit the van before getting out of bed. A quick soak in the hot springs warmed us right up, and we bundled up for our hike to the cave dwellings.
When we reached the Visitor’s Center we found out it had reached 10 degrees the night before. I’ve put a moratorium on camping below 25 now. Bode LOVES visitor’s centers. Everywhere we go he asks if there is one. Anyway, we spent a long time inside the Gila VC watching a film and looking at the artifacts they’ve found in the cliffs….and warming up.
From the photos, we were a bit skeptical. They didn’t look as cool as the photos we’ve seen of Mesa Verde, but we aren’t planning to go that far north. But after the 30 minute hike, which started with snowball fights and ended with us taking off our gloves and jackets in the warm sunshine, we were in awe. The 7 caves served as home to the Mogollon people who lived in this area over 700 years ago…and they let us hike right through them. Pretty awesome.
Posted on October 14, 2009 by angela
We left Vancouver to head east, but that involved unsuccessful stops at 2 different Mega-marts looking for tire chains. Ugh. We also had no luck at the walk-in pharmacy for flu shots, and other various big-box store stops. This was just like being in Oakland. To top it off, it was the beginning of a holiday weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) and we were on a highway with everyone else. No views, just traffic.
So, there were lots of uninteresting stops and I was really glad when we finally made it to Harrison Hot Springs. The hot springs were basically just a large warm indoor pool with sulfur, but the town and view were amazing. There’s also a big fancy resort next door, but we skipped the luxury for an opportunity to camp in the freezing cold. Although it was chilly, the sky was clear so we headed over to Sasquatch Provincial Park for the night.
No Yeti to be found, but we did find other bandits. At one point, I heard Jason talking outside and figured it was another camper, but then I saw him waving his arms and stomping. I finally went out to see what he was doing, and he was trying to scare away a family of raccoons. We ate in the van while the raccoons returned to tear into our garbage. After we cleaned that up, I took the dishes to wash them. I couldn’t find a faucet and it was dark and really cold. So, I piled up the dirty dishes in our plastic camping box, put the lid on it, and put 2 boxes on top of that. The next morning we saw that it was no match for a determined coon.
Bode stayed inside the van most of the evening. It was pretty cold out, and he just got a new movie. So much for his taste in music. This movie featured the 80′s classic Axel F, and he’s been humming it for 2 days now.
After his movie, Jason and I decided to watch one of our movies. We brought a ton of films, but I think we’ve only watched one so far. Jason made an interesting selection in The Mosquito Coast. It is about an inventor who moves his family to the jungles of Central America with disastrous results. Foreshadowing?
The cold morning got us up an out of the campsite pretty quickly. Washing dishes is always a downer, but doing it in sub-freezing conditions is worse. We went back into Harrison and grabbed warmed drinks while Bode played on the beach playground. The wind was carrying sand around us so thick we could barely see, but we still had to promise Bode a better playground to convince him to leave. Luckily, there was one in the next town across from a laundromat. It was still so windy that the laundromat sign kept blowing down.
Once we were on the road again we had to keep stopping for Jason to check the timing, check on weird noises, and adjust something called the dwell. I’m not sure what that all means, but we aren’t getting very far. Luckily, at this pit stop I have found a wireless connection.
We’re headed into the mountains, and it is cold (we’re in one of the blue parts of the image below!) And, now there is some sort of cricket noise coming from the back of the bus… fingers crossed!
Posted on October 7, 2009 by angela
The next day it was rainy, and time once again for our new favorite rainy day activity. There is a hot spring on the tip of the Olympic peninsula. Sol Duc Hot Springs is more resorty and the complete opposite of Bagby Springs. This time Bode specifically requested that the next hot tub not be an old tree trunk. Man, it’s hard to please a 4 year old, but this request was easy to accommodate.
He also wants a robot that does whatever he asks him to…for example get us a soy hot chocolate or a speed racer toy. But that is another story.
The pools were nice. There were 4 in all, but one was too cold and one was too hot. We were impressed to see that the lifeguard on duty also had the responsibility of taking regular samples and running assays from each of the pools. Checking for sulfur (and ?) content, I suppose. It was a bit odd that he put on gloves and used tongs to take water samples from the pools we were soaking in.
As usual, we met some nice folks and as usual, one guy had a Westfalia in the 70′s and stories to tell. He also gave us some great suggestions on where to go on Vancouver Island. His daughter runs an all-girl surf school in Tofino. Canadian surf town, eh?
We cruised around the Olympic peninsula and it is truly beautiful. Lake Crescent is stunning. The rainforest here is supposedly one of the wettest places on Earth and we can verify that it’s wet. More photos than story today, as this was a pretty lazy day.
Posted on September 30, 2009 by jason
With a couple hundred arbitrary miles left on the van before the check up, we headed inland to Bagby Hot Springs. This place was described by some Portland locals as a ‘must see’ and ‘magical,’ and by others as a place ‘full of dirty hippies’. Depending on your perspective, it was all of the above.
Bagby is about 40 miles from the nearest semblance of civilization and it’s another 1.5 mile wooded hike from there. It’s a beautiful drive – you follow the Clackamas River East from Portland on Forest Service roads.
Anyway, we made it out to the springs around twilight (take a flashlight for the hike back!) and enjoyed what we found. We haven’t seen anything quite like it.
The place was created some time in the early 1900′s and consists of the natural hot springs bubbling out of the ground and into hollowed out cedar logs and tree branches that duct the water to a series of wooden tubs. The tubs are, of course, hollowed out tree trunks. Pick a tub, plug the bung hole, and open the wooden chute until your tub is full of hot spring water (136 degrees!) Add a bucket of cool spring water from a well to set the desired temperature. Soak, relax, repeat.
Bode has turned into a hot-tubber, so he had a great time.
We met some interesting folks too – the smokey hippies, the annihilated good ‘ole boy drinking whiskey from a Pepsi can (yeah, it’s obvious), the Russians, etc. Everyone was friendly and enjoyed themselves.
Bode suggested that instead of hiking out here, there should be a roller coaster. Everyone agreed that a roller coaster ride through the forest out to the springs would be far out, man.
We were given random advice on investing in gold and were told about when the Hell’s Angels took over the place. Apparently, it can get pretty crowded and rowdy on the weekends too. Even though we were here on a weekday, it would only take a few more people with a few more vices and things could get out of hand quickly.
After camping at the springs for a night and having huge spiders drop out of the trees on us, we’re now on our way to get the final engine check up. I expect we may actually leave Oregon today. We couldn’t have broken down in a better town, or met nicer people.
By the way, Angela found the Lonely Planet forum Long-Term Family Travel and Sabbatical. The moderator, Sarah Smith blogs about roadschooling her 2 kids while they travel the world for a year. We can’t imagine having to add the responsibility of formally educating Bode (at least not at this point in the journey) and find her story really inspirational.
She held a Q&A with Angela and you can read it here.
I think she said it best:
Long-term family travel is ripe for self-doubt. We rented out our home, pulled the kids out of school, dug deep into savings, reduced our stuff to what we can carry, jeopardized professional relationships, drove away from our neighborhood, and promptly stopped hearing from more than half of our friends.
Are we doing the right thing? And what exactly are we doing, anyway?
–Sarah Smith at www.away-together.com
