Don’t Forget Your Towel

I don’t have a lot of experience with hot springs. In fact, most of my knowledge comes from anime, and I’m going to assume all of it is wrong. So when my in-laws suggested a couple of nights stay in a cabin near one, I was all for it. Turns out we only live about three hours away from some wicked awesome mountains with hot springs.

I think I discovered my love of mountains while we were in Scotland. I had driven through the Appalachians several times in my youth, but never lived in a place where mountains were ever-present. The mountains in Scotland are something. I’m convinced cloud-wreathed mountains spark my muse. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we moved to a valley. Every day, all I have to do is go outside and look up.But the Canadian Rockies are a different kind of spectacular. I’m not sure I’ve ever been that close to such high mountains. Some of them are still ice-capped, even in the middle of summer. Some have rocky faces and some are lined with trees in odd striations because of winter avalanches.

Most people think cabin in the woods right beside hot springs and they imagine lounging in the pool. But my first order of business was to stretch out on a nice comfortable couch and read. I don’t get to devote as much time to reading as I’d like anymore, so I spent the first day of our hot springs vacation, the remainder of the day after the long drive, curled up with a good book. And my was it magnificent! There’s nothing quite like a couple uninterrupted hours alone with a good book.

Our first day at the cabin was bright and sunny, (so who can blame me for finding a nice shady spot to read?) but the second day was rainy. I think that made the view even more spectacular. From the hot springs tub we could see three majestic peaks shrouded in mountain mist. It kind of reminded me of those scroll paintings from China. I can see now why such mountains would be so captivating. It’s almost like being transported into a fantasy world.

We had planned to spend a lot of time hiking; there are some really awesome trails in the area, including one that leads to a glacier. But even with a thick forest canopy, we didn’t want to wade through rain and mud. So we only took one brief hike through the rain. I enjoyed it. I can’t say exactly why, but I love walking in the rain. Somehow all the vegetation is greener when it’s raining, and the canopy kept it to drips so we didn’t get very wet. We saw some gigantic leaves, bigger than I’ve ever seen, and a pair of massive black slugs, each bigger than my thumb.

Luckily when the pool is a hot spring, it doesn’t matter if it’s raining because the water’s nice and warm. Actually, I found the water even nicer while it was raining because you could lift yourself out of the water for a few minutes to feel the cool, soothing rain, and then return to the warmth of the water. I’m told that hot springs are supposed to be good for your skin, but mostly I just enjoyed the relaxation. Overall, it was a fun couple of days filled with family and games.

Just don’t forget to bring your towel. Some of those places want to charge 7 bucks just to rent a towel.