The "other" Hot Springs

[In case you were wondering, this is the hot pool I'm talking about in this entry, but obviously that's not me... didn't have the right picture, but Isaac managed to take one of himself the day before...so enjoy!]

Middle Fork Lodge aside, there are a couple of truly natural hot springs around Thomas Creek where we spent the last week. Not that the Lodge’s hot springs aren’t natural, because they sure are. They just have been fed into man-made pools (and into the buildings for heat, etc. Interesting fact: there aren’t any woodstoves at the lodge, and only one fireplace, mainly for aesthetics. They entire place is run off the heat of the natural hot springs…at least as far as I know, don’t quote me).
One of those other hot springs was just a mile or so down stream from where Isaac and I were camped, and Isaac partook in them one morning returning from a filming trek, so I decided it was my turn to check them out the next day. It was a warm (all relative, probably right around 35), sunny day. I took the sound equipment and trekked downstream, stopping occasionally to take some ambient sound in different locations. The hot springs are located in a wide open flat, just off the river. It is also a mineral lick heavily used by the hoofed creatures of the area. As I walked out into the flat, the smell of elk was strong in the air. At this time of year, it is brown and barren, dressed only in the stalky and trampled remains of the wild sunflowers that give the hot springs their name. A few graceful willows spread their brilliant orange branches into the blazing blue of the sky, but other than that surprising display of color, the area is not all that attractive. I walked for a ways across the flats, squelching across a few wet seeps, flowing brown and muddy from churning hooves up above. I tested every one of them by sticking my fingers into the trickle, and they were cold, so I continued. I was beginning to wonder where the springs were, when I came across the last tiny trickle. To the casual eye, this little stream looked like any little stream you would come across in a flat like this. But unlike the others, it ran clear, meandering across the flat, following gravity to the big river 500 yards away. Oddly though, this little stream was subtly, and delicately edged in brilliant green plants the color of emerald. Not a color you’d expect to come across this time of year. Odd also, that if you stared harder at the tiny stream, you noticed little wisps of steam rising from its surface, almost like it was breathing. So subtle that you’d think you were imagining it, and yet as I walked close, my smile widened. I had found the source. I got to the bank and took off my heavy winter boots and wool socks. Testing with a toe first, I waded out into the water, which barely licked at my ankles. The soft sand cradled my feet and the feeling was sensational. Hot water, soft sand, gentle steam, sun. What more could you want?
The only thing more I could think of to want, was my whole body in this stream, so I followed it a few dozen yards down to where a little pool had been built up with logs and rocks. It looked silty and shallow, but it was good enough for me. I stripped off the rest of my cloths and stepped in, sinking a few inches into fine black silt. Settling my body into the water, the silt came to rest all over my belly and legs, and I just grinned down at it without a care in the world. I can’t even begin to explain the feeling. It’s February. We’re in the middle of the largest wilderness in the lower forty-eight, and I’m laying naked in a pool of water that must be around 105 degrees, grinning up at a pure blue sky, rimmed with gorgeous snowy peaks, watching elk and bighorn sheep graze across a slope to the west, feeling the sun on my face…pure bliss.
After about an hour, I discovered the next best feeling to actually laying in the pool. That is, standing on the sun warmed rocks just outside the pool to dry off. Body now a brilliant pink from the heat, core warmed to the point that standing for twenty minutes completely naked in the sunshine of that February day in the mountains feels exceptional…