Litton Evie - Hiking Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest : a Guide to the Area’s Best Backcountry Hot Springs

Hiking Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest

A Guide to the Areas Best Backcountry Hot Springs

Fifth Edition

Evie Litton and Sally Jackson

HELP US KEEP THIS GUIDE UP TO DATE

Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedtrails are rerouted, regulations change, techniques evolve, facilities come under new management, and so on.

We would appreciate hearing from you concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. While we may not be able to respond to all comments and suggestions, well take them to heart, and well also make certain to share them with the author. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address:

Globe Pequot Press

Reader Response/Editorial Department

P.O. Box 480

Guilford, CT 06437

Or you may e-mail us at: editorial@GlobePequot.com

Thanks for your input, and happy trails!

To all the volunteers who struggle patiently and often ingeniously to create and maintain soaking pools for everyone to enjoy and to those who value hot springs in a natural setting enough to pack out the trash left by others, this book is gratefully dedicated.

Copyright 2014 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

FalconGuides is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Text design/layout: Sue Murray

Project editor: Ellen Urban

Maps Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-8370-0

The authors and Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

Acknowledgments

When FalconGuides approached me last year to undertake a fifth edition of this guide, I called upon my longtime friend, fellow hot springer and author Sally Jackson, to come on board. Sally, quite a few years my junior, with her much needed twenty-first century skill set and boundless enthusiasm, agreed to step in and carry on the torch. She undertook a staggering amount of fieldwork all across the Pacific Northwest and took over the huge job of revising and updating the text, the maps, and the photos as well adding GPS coordinates to almost all the springs. She also tracked down and added nineteen hot springs, giving us a new grand total of 162! For this amazing feat Ill be forever in Sallys debt. It was a labor of love.

To Skip Hill, former publisher of the Hot Springs Gazette; to Chris Andrews, contributor to the Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Northwest/Southwest books; to the Idaho Dippers; and to Matt Hemmingsen, Wally Dietrich, and Bob Westerberg, I just want to say thanks to each of you for your expertise and good company on some memorable trips out fishing for hot water. For my author photo, I am indebted to Bob Cardell of the Southern Arizona Hiking Club Tucson, Arizona.

And last but not least, I want to express my gratitude to the friendly folks at Falcon Guide for guiding this stray missile to a safe and happy landing. Without their help, it would still be orbiting somewhere over the Pacific Northwest.

Sally Jackson (coauthor, fifth edition): I would like to thank the Idaho Dippers, Chris Andrews, and Hot Spring Harley for sharing their great photos, expert advice, and good company on our trips to the back of beyond in search of hot water. Thank you also to my patient friend John Herchenrider for his assistance during our research trip through BC. Im also very grateful to Tim Messing for sharing his hot springs photos along with detailed trip reports on several Washington springs that I was unable to visit firsthand. Thanks also go to Wayne Estes, John Howard, Blue Meek, Matt Rosenthal, and Michael Rysavy for sharing some of their terrific hot spring photos. An extra special thank you must go to my amazing mother, Margaret, without whose support and understanding this project would never have been completed. And finally I would like to thank my dear friend Evie for her unwavering trust and faith in me as her handpicked reviser and coauthor!

Introduction

This book was first published in 1990 as The Hikers Guide to Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest and is meant for the active outdoor hedonist who enjoys experiencing the wonders of nature on foot but who also turns on to the contrasting idea of a blissful dip at the end of the trail in one of natures own steamy creations.

It just so happens that the Pacific Northwest is a mecca not only for superb scenery and hiking but also for first-class primitive hot springs. A chain of these pearls runs through the Cascades of Oregon and Washington, clusters are located across southern British Columbia, and in Idaho youll discover a total of 109 hot springsincluding fifteen buried in the Frank Church Wilderness. Idaho, astonishingly, happens to have more than twice the number of wild hot springs than the total number in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia combined.

The best of both worlds is presented here in one package: a detailed guide to 162 of the finest natural hot soaks in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Idaho and a trail guide to seventy scenic hikes that either lead to them or begin nearby. Whether youre already a confirmed wilderness buff and hot springs fanatic or youre new to either pursuit, this guide should be a welcome companion to your travels.

How to Use This Guide

Hiking Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest is a guide to both hot soaks and hikes in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Idaho. The springs marked on the locator maps are listed numerically. Beneath them in the text, youll find one or more hikes. For example, in Oregon we start with 1 Umpqua Hot Springs, followed by hikes 1a, 1b, and 1c. The hikes fall into three categories: hikes that reach a hot spring, hikes that continue on from the spring, and hikes located in the same area. One or more of these categories may be listed under each hot spring.

Headings for Hot Springs (located less than 1 mile from a road)

General description: Includes what youll find, the distance from road to spring, and the customary swimwear or lack thereof. Example: A quiet soaking pool cloaked in greenery at the end of a 0.25-mile creekside path. Swimwear is optional.

Elevation: A useful gauge for estimating seasonal access.

General location : Approximate distance and direction of the hot spring from the nearest town. Example: 64 miles east of Roseburg.

GPS : These coordinates will help you zero in on your soaking destination. A vehicle GPS unit, in conjunction with a state map book, makes life a lot easier when embarking on a hot spring road trip.