Hot Pots Revisited

It has been five years since I took the kids out to the Hot Pots in the summer. When Caroline called and asked if I'd like to go hike out there during Fall Break, it seemed like a great idea. Then only three kids could go. Then Ivory was sick and it was only two kids. But I felt like we had committed, so we dutifully went and it was a good time.

Here we are. Last time I hiked this, the 'littles' were little. Now Daisy is taller than me and Pearl isn't far behind. I probably should have dressed warmer. I was thinking shorts for hiking, and then it ended up being pretty chilly. 

The scenery was gorgeous. We saw all the fall colors as we walked along. There were lots of leaves on the ground and a few left on the trees but it was all so pretty. We even saw a somewhat beaver dam. (I actually don't think there are beavers so much as wood that has stacked up in this one spot.)

The hike up is a little less than two miles I think. There are some ups and downs, but nothing crazy. We made short work of it. You can tell when you get close to the hot pots, because you can smell the sulfur in the air. The hot spots were right where I left them, but they certainly didn't look the same. The water level was so low. Where there was usually a waterfall, there was only a trickle. But I did like the cairns someone set up there. 

I don't have a lot of pictures of them, but the Turner's were with us. (They organized and drove in fact) Caroline, Jason, and their three kids, Annie, Olivia, and Andrew are all expert hikers. I'm sure they go much more often than our family. Here you can see Pearl and Olivia and then Daisy and Annie up above.

Because there was less water coming into the area, it seemed much hotter. No one was really up by the falls. So we wandered back a ways to some of the pools that looked manageable. Weirdly, one of them was VERY green. You can't tell from this picture, but it was almost food color green. In fact, I think someone may have poured some type of dye in to make that color.

We went to the regular pools. It was quite warm. Not uncomfortably so, but for me and my sensitive skin, I was guaranteed some heat rash following my soaking. We enjoyed our natural hot tub and then we packed up for the trip back.

Pearl got my phone for the return trip and took over 100 pictures. I'm not going to put them all on here, but there were some neat ones.

The bridge had a special message, and whereas I don't totally disagree, I'm still glad we didn't run into any 'beautiful' people at the pots.

It was an excellent hike and a great way to spend the morning. The afternoon was a nap for me. (I'm out of practice getting so many steps at once.) Don't tell anyone. See no evil, speak no evil...