About a month ago, we were bored on a beautiful Saturday. Jason had a brilliant idea to go to some natural hot springs. My former mission companion, Bethany, and her husband, Derek were up for some fun as well.We loaded up in the car and headed out at about 1 pm. When we were almost there, we found that the road leading up to the hot springs had been closed for the winter. There were several cars parked along the road. Assuming they were all for the hot springs as well we decided we could probably just walk to the trail head and go from there. About ten minutes into the walk we ran across some people walking back to their car. We asked them how far the hot springs were up the road. They thought it was about a twenty minute drive to the trail head and then about 1.5 miles hike to the hot springs.
Jason had been there before and he figured their estimation was off. Since it was so sunny and beautiful we decided to keep walking. The road continued for an eternity. We had passed several people headed to the hot springs that decided it was too long and turned back. They all promised us that the hot springs were worth the walk though. (Not too convincing since none of them actually made it.) But we were enjoying ourselves. We pressed on. It finally got to the point that we had gone so far, we figured we might as well go all the way.
This is us finally on the actual trail:
The trail itself was probably the hardest part. It was narrow, slippery, and going up a mountain. There was a partially frozen stream about 20 feet below us. And since we figured this was going to be a quick trip we didn't have the best snow hiking shoes on. Our feet were soaked before we even made it to the hot springs. We didn't have any food (except for a few gold fish crackers that Bethany and Derek brought). We were wearing our swimsuits underneath our clothes without thinking to bring a change of clothes. Our legs felt like jello long before we made it. FINALLY we reached the sulfur smelling water that promised to bring relief!
It did feel amazing after the super long hike to get there. Our sore muscles instantly found relief. The water wasn't super hot or deep however. Definitely NOT worth the hike. Plus, we could only stay about 15 minutes because the sun had already started going down. We still had to make the trek back. By the time we made it back to the car is was full on night time. Luckily the moon was shining bright. We didn't bring flash lights. I am convinced we all had mild hypothermia. I thought we would never make it back. We found out later that we had walked 5 miles on the road to get to the trail head. the trail to the hot springs was 2.5 miles. By the time we had walked there and back our "quick trip" ended up being 15 miles of walking round trip. We didn't get back home until 7:30 that night.
As miserable this experience sounds, we still speak fondly of it. It was such an adventure. Luckily we had some awesome friends to share our experience with. I would probably not do it again but I now have a fabulous story to tell my grandkids. Hurray for adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment