Longest Known Soaking at Goldbug Hot Springs

[Mark Wetherington]

Companion forum thread to: Longest Known Soaking at Goldbug Hot Springs

A well-timed winter backpacking trip allowed for priceless solitude at an oft-crowded Idaho hot springs.

[Bruce Tolley]

Sounds like a lot of fun and very relaxing. To go winter camping and be soaking in a hot spring…..

BTW Do we now have a new acronym LKS??

[David Thomas]

I had an overly long soak while winter backpacking in Washington State.  The hot spring wasn’t *quite* warm enough – 96 or 97F, I’d guess.  So we never got to that slightly overheated point where you wanted to get out into the cold weather (and back to the tents).  So we soaked for a long time at that tepid temp because it was better than getting chilled getting back to our sleeping bags, but it wasn’t quite hot enough to feel great about hanging out for so long.

[Marcus]

I almost fell asleep in Sespe hot spring alone one night. There is a rock in one of the pools at a perfect reclined angle, then you put your feet up on the rock wall, and use a gallon ziplock bag half inflated as a pillow. I dozed off and woke up as my head fell off the pillow!

I love hot springs. They are one of the main features I hike long distances for, and try to do it at off times because hot springs alone or with a small, close group is very special

[Mark Wetherington]

Credit for the Longest Known Soak acronym goes to Aria Zoner, who has pioneered and promoted the Hot Springs Trail, among other routes he has crafted (like the Siskiyou Peaks Trail).

David — yeah, I’ve found that in winter anything less than 101 degrees or so just isn’t really warm enough for me. I was lucky that Goldbug Hot Springs has a source of 112 degrees or so and then it cools as it cascades downward, with a few other warm/hot sources coming in as well. It was really nice to have so many options and move around when I wanted a change in scenery, temperature, or both.

I’ve only been to Boulder/Olympic Hot Springs out in Olympic National Park and it was comfortable enough in the summer but didn’t seem like it would be warm enough in the winter. Was that the one you were at, or perhaps Kennedy Hot Springs? Pretty sure Kennedy is now a “ghost” hot spring after being covered in a landslide years ago.

Marcus – that’s a great idea about the ziplock bag as pillow for those situations! Brilliant. Sespe seems like a really neat hot springs, I’d like to visit it someday. I try to do at least one trip per year that involves backpacking to a new hot spring or revisiting an old favorite. Something just very magical about spending time at such neat landforms and soaking it all in.

 

[Author]

Posts