I can hear Bro Meinkey stirring and I know that means it’s about time. Time to pull myself out of my warm cocoon and put on wet, cold clothes and hike through the darkness. It’s a time of contrasts. The comfort of where I am currently and the desire to experience what lies at the end of the cold walk.
I’m vacillating.
Then Mama Bear pipes up, “Are you going to get up?”
The answer was always yes, but I needed a few more seconds or maybe that small nudge to get me moving. I unzip my bag and the cold air hits me. I quickly pull on my puffy jacket and begin the process of extricating my aching, old bones from my tent. The worst piece is putting on my wet shorts, but without putting too much time into thinking about it, I find myself dressed and moving up the canyon. The stream appears and I avoid it for a few minutes until it’s pointless and then the warm water feels amazing as it swirls over and around my cold feet.
The walk is only about 10 minutes and by the time we arrive, the sun is up enough that the headlamp is pretty much redundant. My hands have more or less frozen and they, along with my toes, burn as I dip them into the hot spring. I leave my upper body out and begin the process of readying coffee. The stove comes out, pot is assembled and soon I am sitting in 103.8-degree temperature water and waiting for coffee.
Not a bad way to start the day.
The Season Opener, the Bear’s Befday Trip, the Hot Spring Weekend, or just simply packrafting, whatever you want to call it, it is one of the best traditions we’ve come up with yet. Bang for your buck, it’s probably one of the best ways to spend a weekend.
It’s a simple, straightforward type of trip. An easy, more or less, short hike in followed by paddling to and from hot springs and ending with another short, more or less, easy hike out. That’s pretty much it. From put in to take out, it’s usually right around 24 hours, but those hours are packed to the brim with backcountry comfort. Not only are some of our favorite people there, but we are soaking in natural hot springs most of the time. The rest of the time is being spent getting to and from said hot springs.
You may ask, if this is such a rad spot, why isn’t it overcrowded. Well, that is an excellent question and the answer is the Couple Mile Rule. You see the Couple Mile Rule states that if you wish to avoid humanity and the over-washed masses, you just have to go a bit farther than everyone else. You know, a couple more miles.
And truth be told, this place is crowded. At least the places that are easy to get to are. There are several canyons one can easily hike down that have hot springs. These ones are crowded and you will see about as big of a variety of people as you will ever see on a hike. Everything from the extended family (including granny) to the barely able to walk to the overly fit, but smells like fabric softener day adventurer to the occasional backpacker.
But then we blow up our boats, put in and float away.
Having boats and the ability to zip around the river where folks who are landlocked can’t, we’ve been able to snag the same campsite for the past three years. It’s the best. I mean, seriously the best. And I should know. I’ve camped in some amazing places and this is definitely top 5. It’s secluded and while we certainly have the occasional boater stop in and walkthrough, we haven’t been disturbed even once past mid-afternoon.
The tent location is at the mouth of the canyon. It’s a bit narrow, but there’s space for our small group and you can sit at the end of the gravel bar and look down canyon at dusk and dawn and see the canyon come to life with colors you can’t imagine would exist naturally or would exist in a place that seems so stark under flat light. The whole river glows with the golden light that makes greeting the morning the best part of the day. With the light low, purples, blues, reds, and, of course, yellows, pop from the rocks and glow off the river with reflections bouncing the light back up toward the sun.
If you worship the sun, this is your temple.
Our chosen route out of the canyon poses a bit of an obstacle getting from the river up to the wash that will take us out. This obstacle is the 30-50 foot climb through palm trees and other dense vegetation bordering the water.
The crux is a small hole you have to crawl through whilst lifting yourself up a 4-foot lip. I remove my pack and with all my force hoist the whole thing up while also trying to get myself up through the hole. I am stopped dead in my tracks by a small branch in the middle of my forehead. A bit stunned, I step back down glad it didn’t go into my eye. There’s blood, but not enough to be too concerned. I reposition and heave my pack up a second time being careful to avoid the forehead stabber and then drag my carcass up the bank to join my pack. Once up, I move my pack out of the way and grab Mama Bear’s.
Soon the Alliance is up the bank and making our way back up the canyon. The walk is short and fairly easy. Outside of a few steep sections and maybe a loose, marbly hill that is terrifying to maneuver with a heavy pack on, it’s a quick stroll back to the cars.
There is an immediate flurry of activity that translates into beers, chips and chairs. Within minutes of arriving back to our adventuremobiles, we are sitting around them enjoying a beverage, soaking in the sun and telling stories about the quick micro-adventure we just had.
And everyone agree, it was golden.
Embrace chaos. Seek Discomfort.
