It’s a new year! And that requires a healing soak. I had originally planned to visit Willow Creek Hot Springs down in SE Oregon, but due to the length of drive and cost of gas, as well as a crappy weather forecast, I opted for a warmer locale to the north, weirdly enough… Port Angeles and the Elway Valley.
Warm does not mean dry, altho I was prepared. And warm is a relative term. Rain threatened all morning, showers arrived by late afternoon. I enjoyed a lovely snow fall while I was soaking Tuesday evening, and it snowed all that night, as well. But it wasn’t frigid and windy, so that was good. I had set up my hammock on new straps in the abandoned Boulder Creek campground, which is a nice open area under the big trees, well above the creek. My MSR rainfly kept me nice and dry. And to my delight, altho I didn’t realize it until morning, my fingers didn’t give me grief during the night. (Nor the next!)
Wednesday was a lovely, fair day. I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of granola and blueberries with chai tea while the sun peaked over the Hurricane Ridge and warmed the forest with bright golden light, followed by another soak, much longer this time. I opted to enjoy the nice weather by hiking back down to the valley bottom to the washed out Altair campground, rather than spend a cold wet night up at Boulder Creek campground. Laying in the hot water, with nothing to do but watch the clouds move across the sky, I realized it would rain well before dawn – if I spent the night, while I would be cozy and dry, my long hike out would be wet and not so fun.
It was the right choice – rain set in sometime after midnight. I had set up my hammock under the pcinic shelter, where I had two picnic tables to set my stuff out on to dry a bit, and to enjoy a seat while I cooked, read my e-book, and brewed evening tea. I didn’t actually go to bed until midnight (which is late for me), because the night was so lovely, the tea so tasty, and the e-book so very fascinating (This is How You Lose the Time War, El-Mohtar & Gladstone, 2019, read it!!) It was lovely listening to the rain and the river all night.
While my last couple of miles back to the Madison Falls trail head were wet, it was a short and easy walk. It sucked not all. I got back to my truck, brewed up some chai, changed clothes and got all dried off, and headed home. My headlights are not working so reliably lately, so I didn’t want to risk driving in the dark.
No pics of the springs area – but I did get some pics on the hike up and on my way out.
Images taken March 15-16 on along the Olympic Hot Springs Rd, ONP
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