Monday, December 3, 2012

Meadow Hot Springs

As we typically do, we had our November campout this year at a hot springs.  It's getting hard to find hot springs that aren't crowded and rowdy so I don't know how long we'll be able to keep this up, but we'll enjoy it while we can.

Meadow Hot Springs is on private land, but the owner has allowed people to come onto his land to have access to the springs.  It's a pool approximately 25 feet long and 10-15 feet wide, with a deeper spot in the middle, and one spot that drops down 20 feet.  It's always a challenge for the boys and leaders to try to make it to the bottom of the hole, so we bring glow sticks and tie small rocks to them and drop them down.  There isn't really room for more than one or two people in the hole, so that way we know if they make it to the bottom or not.  Not everyone is up to swimming down 20 feet into a dark hole, so we don't push, but those that do it enjoy the challenge.  This year only one boy and myself made it to the bottom.

This year we camped in the backyard of a friend, in Fillmore, and after dinner donned our swimming suits and drove to the parking lot.  It's a quarter mile hike from the parking lot to the springs - cold hike for those of us hiking in swimsuits and sandals as we sloshed through the mud puddles left over from the melting snow!  So the water felt great!  Unfortunately this year there were 2 scout troops camped at the parking lot, so we knew we were in for a busy night!  Luckily not long after we got to the springs, the other two troops cleared out for dinner so we had an hour or so by ourselves.

After awhile the locals started showing up with bikini's and beer, and our boys decided it was best to leave.  Good for them!  So we left the place to the newcomers and went back to camp for a campfire, hot chocolate and bed.

The next morning we played quadball - which is a cross between soccer, rugby, football, and something else, hockey maybe?  It was a lot of fun!  Then we packed up and went home.

Good trip, but does anyone know of another hot springs that we can go to next year that won't be as busy?  We've done Diamond Fork, and Crystal in years past.