Montana Trip - Spring 09 - Day 4

My fourth day in Montana was a Sunday and we had made plans to go to a natural hot spring. I had never done this before, but I have heard about all kinds of health benefits and how relaxing and cool it was, so I was pretty excited to go. Craig would not be joining us though because he had to go to a training course to become a soccer referee. It was kind of a bummer, but it was a great opportunity for him! That morning, we got up, ate some breakfast and hit the road with some snacks for the road and our swimsuits. Paul had a book about all of the hot springs in the north west USA which I glanced through for about 5 seconds.

Now, let me take a pause here to let you in on what was going on in my head. I figured that we were heading to a spa like place with a natural hot spring, maybe some mud baths, seaweed wraps and possibly a hot stone massage. I was wondering how much this was going to cost me, but I was on vacation, so… whatever right?

Ok, Paul, Kristen, Kara and I pile into the car and head out. The place that we are going to is in Idaho and about two or three hours away. We are cruising down the road and jamming to some tunes and they begin to tell me about some of the other hot springs that they had been to and that they had never been to the one that we were heading to. As they tell the stories I begin to get the idea that what I had envisioned was not exactly right. I explained my idea of what we were doing and I am told that there are some that are kind of like that, more commercial, but we are going to a more rustic one. I get out the book that Paul had given me earlier and look up Weir Hot Springs. As I read, it becomes clear to me that I was REALLY wrong in what I was expecting. Apparently this is just some natural spring that random people have built up pools for in the middle of nowhere.

I was not disappointed at all. This would be pretty cool. I mean it was in a book, so it had to be a pretty great place, right? I was starting to get hungry though and I asked if there was going to be any restaurants near the place and Paul just kind of looked at me with a smile that said "dude, you have no idea", but just said probably not. I then realized that I was going to need some food and asked to stop at the next gas station.

We were not anywhere near civilization and it was quite a while before we came across anything. We continued our drive through the mountains, the humongous trees and ever increasing snow fall until we got to a gas station in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of a gas station / camp grounds and was pretty much empty. They we went into the main house and asked if they had any snacks for sale. They had to go find a guy and then go find a key to open a different building that had some things for sale in it. I don't think that the place had been opened in a couple of weeks, but they had some chips and some other forms of sustenance from Costco, so I spent $10 on a few things. While I was checking out, I asked the guy if he knew how to get to Weir Hot Springs as the directions in the book were a little unclear.

"You're going to Weir huh? Just go up to mile marker (whatever) and watch for where the road widens. Don't park there though, you will get towed. You will see the trail and it is just a little walk in." I told him thanks and got back in the car. We continued down the road and I told Paul what the guy said.

"I am sure that we will see a sign or something though," I mentioned.

I was greeted with another smile at my naivety from Paul. "Probably not," he said.

We eventually got to the right place and saw a couple of other cars parked on the side of the road with snow all over the place, so we got out and started walking up the road. I had realized that I had not made a snow man yet, so I made one really quickly on the side of the road and we continued on, for like a half of a mile! This is not what I was expecting and it was all beginning to dawn on me what was really going on.

We found the trail and then hiked for about another half mile into the woods. Now, it is important to remember that it is winter, it is snowing like crazy, there is already a LOT of snow on the ground, and we are in the mountains.

This is NOT what I was expecting. It was so much more. The hike in was amazing. We travelled in next to a creek and through ever increasingly large trees. There were many trees that had fallen over due to the weight of the snow on their branches and they lay across the creek with two feet of snow piled up on their now horizontal trunks. Their still standing companions were easily four to six foot in diameter and rose what seemed like forever.

The terrain was not crazy ridicules or anything, but it was covered in snow and did pose some problems as some bits had to be travelled via a mandatory butt slide down the side of the mountain. It did have me wondering how exactly we were going to get back though.

After a while, we reached an area where the snow was conspicuously melted indicating our arrival at the hot spring! There were two couples already there and we greeted them and then found a secluded area to change into our suits. We were maybe 100 feet away from the hot pool and had to make that trip in the 20 something degree weather in just our suits. (some advice, BRING FLIP FLOPS!)

The hot spring itself is just a natural spring of water flowing out of a crack in the side of the mountain. It travels maybe twenty feet down the granite and is caught in a pool made by local residents from piled rocks, concrete and logs. They even put in a couple of PVC tubes at different levels to allow for emptying the pool or changing the water level. The water comes out of the face of the rock at about 117 degrees, but cools to about 105 by the time it reaches the pool. The pool is constantly circulated by the never ending stream of hot water that flows over the top of the pool. The pool is about the same size as a 12 person hot tub.

We said hi to the other people there and quickly dipped into the warm water of the pool. It was an awesome way to just chill and enjoy time together. The scenery was amazing! Since we were basically on the low side of a mountain, the best view was across the creek to the side of the mountain on the other side. I was just relishing the time spent looking at the majestic trees, and the contrast of the warm water vs. the huge falling snowflakes landing on my head that would quickly melt into a memory.

We spent a couple of hours there talking to the couples there and just having a great time. After a while though, a large group of people ready to party showed up and that was our cue to leave. We got dressed and headed back.

I had thought that the trip back would be unbearable after so much relaxing, but the stay at the spring was actually very invigorating and the trip back to the car was nothing.

This was definitely something that I could do again… over and over and over again.