Goldmyer Hotsprings overnight with aDam 2013-10-19

Last weekend a few friends joined my wife and I at one of our favorite places - Goldmyer Hotsprings. This was Colin's first time to the springs, and we had another first-timer as well. aDam is the official mascot of Fazed, an incredible online community which I was lucky enough to stumble across many years ago. For the last few years (besides a few months of being lost) aDam has been travelling the globe from fazer to fazer, living it up in a fashion that most living breathing people will would envy. He finally arrived on my doorstep for the first time a few weeks ago and we have been having a blast, as you already know if you've been following my blog.

We left the newly upgraded Dingford Creek Trailhead at 10:30 am, leaving just enough time for the hike before we would be allowed into the springs at noon. FYI, as there is now a bathroom at the trailhead, a NW Forest Service Pass is now required to park there. Many thanks to the volunteers who offered to drive in some of our heavy/bulky gear!

We always hike in along the road as it's shorter and more scenic than the trail on the South side of the river. Snoqualmie Mountain, Wild Dare Peak, and Mount Thomson are just a few of the snow-capped peaks that pop in and out of view along the way. The weather could not have been more perfect for a backpacking trip in late October.

We arrived at the caretaker's cabin just after Noon. Before it came into view, a generator and other sounds of construction could be heard echoing through the woods. We met the new caretakers and headed down to our usual campsite above Burnt Boot Creek. After a quick set-up and warm food it was off to the hotsprings to soak away our worries. We stopped at Grandpa - a 900-year-old Douglas Fir - and made an attempt to lock arms around him, but came up about a foot short.

 



The springs were as busy as ever and very naked when we arrived. Steffy and I squeezed our way in while the rest of the group waited for some more room to open up. At one point there were about 12 people in the cave, the most I'd ever seen. The good news about the head count was that only 8 people including the five of us had made overnight reservations, and sure enough the day-hikers filtered out and we had the place to ourselves within a few hours.


We returned to camp for dinner and then headed right back up the trail to take full advantage of the trip. The hotsprings are a magical place made even more special at night. The eyes require less adjusting between the cave and outer pools, and a few glow sticks add nicely to the ambiance. We made no effort to plan the trip around the moon cycle but we were lucky enough to end up out there the day after a full moon. It's path allowed for several hours of an eerie spotlight through the gap in the trees provided by roaring Rock Creek, as well as some headlamp-free hiking back to camp. We all stayed until we were dozing off in the water, then made our way back to camp where we shared some goodies and then crashed out hard.

The next morning we had all slept in, leaving just an hour for a farewell soak before rushing down to break camp. We stopped for a last hot meal at the camp across the footbridge, then enjoyed a pleasant hike out under more blue skies. As we approached North Bend the sky darkened and rain and fog appeared. It felt great to be home, and even better to have spent the weekend under a patch of sunshine.






View 5-11-2013 Goldmyer Hotsprings in a larger map