Scenic Hot Springs Adverture
This past weekend I had an adventure that I don't want to repeat anytime soon. I decided to hike to Scenic Hot Springs near
Stevens Pass after I went skiing. I think whether you’re a blogger or affiliate marketer or whatever, you need to take breaks from your work and get outside. Taking mini vacations in the end will make you more productive at whatever you do.
After skiing all day me and a buddy decided to hike up to Scenic Hot Springs near the resort. If you don't know about Scenic Hot Springs it's located 3 miles away from Stevens Pass WA. Scenic Hot Springs is perched high on a bluff at about the 2,000 foot elevation in the Western Cascades. We weren't prepared at all for this adventure, but we decided to trek out anyway. We didn't have snow shoes, flash lights, and it was 6:00 PM. We had to move fast if we wanted to hike in daylight. We parked the car and hiked Highway 2 to the trail head. We hoped the snow bank and started the long hike to Scenic Hot Springs. The total distance of the hike is about 1 1/2 miles each way.
First Leg
The first thing we noticed was about every third step you would drop about 2 feet through the snow. This proved to make traveling very slow. The first leg of the hike was through the forest at a mild incline. As long at you walked on old snow shoes tracks of a previous hiker you didn't fall through the snow so often.
Second Leg
Then came the second leg of the hike where the forest trail opened up to a clearing. This part of the hike you follow the snapping high tension power lines up a steep incline. The snow was extremely deep and if you fell through it was about 2-3 feet up your leg. Through the forest it took about 15-30 min. this part of the hike took about 30-60 min. it was brutal, especially without snow shoes. All the while I was thinking if it's healthy to be in such close proximity to high tension power lines.
Third Leg
Now we came to the third and most difficult part of the hike through another forest trail. This hike was the steepest of all the sections of the hike. During the hike we had to cross fractured snow on the side of small cliffs and cross streams running underneath the snow.
Hot Springs
We made it! After about an hour and a half we got the pay off. We made it to the Hot Springs. The temperature of the hottest pools runs at about 110 degrees. There is another pool that runs a little cooler at 90 degrees. We stayed in the hot springs that overlooks snowy mountains, green forests, and Stevens Pass below for about an hour.
Around 9:00 PM we decided we needed to leave immediately because number 1 it was dark, number 2 it was starting to snow and number 3 it was getting colder. So we got out of the Scenic Hot Springs put on our clothes and started the long hike back.
Danger
White Out Conditions
We used our cell phones as the only source of light. The snow was coming down more heavily now as we hiked through the forest trail. Every few steps you would fall through the snow or fall down completely. Before the trail opened up to the clearing of the second leg I asked my friend, “What’s that sound?” It turns out the load roaring, crackling sound I was hearing was the high tension power being bombarded with snow. The power lines were also glowing an eerie blue electricity color. I put the danger of electric shock out of my mind because the snow was coming down even heavier and our tracks on the way up were barely visible. The snow was causing near white out conditions. If we couldn't find the trail back I didn’t even want to think what would happen to us. So by this point we were running down the mountain. Not a good idea because the added pressure of our feet caused my buddy to fall through the snow about 3 ft. He said he was stuck and as I hiked back to dig him out he somehow got loose. Then shortly after that incident my leg fell through the snow about 3 ft. causing it to get stuck. I thought I would lose my shoe for sure, but I slowly dug my leg out by hand freeing my shoe and all.
Trail Head
Even after all this hiking down was faster than hiking up. We had a 50/50 chance of finding the 'first leg' forest trail through the blinding snow, luckily we eventually did. This forest trail was easier to follow than the open second leg under the power lines. The whole time I was thinking about all the TV shows on the Discovery Channel about "respecting the mountain." That day we had no respect for the mountain... I will definitely be more prepared next time (at least bring a flashlight) I decide to go hiking in the mountains. At least I got a blog post out of it though right?
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