camping at hotsprings

The last weekend Christopher was here, we went out with John on the 4-wheeler out to the hotsprings and spent the night at the survival cabin. Heading out, we discovered that within the few days that had passed since we had last been out that way, more ice had formed on the crick....though not enough to freeze it over completely. We ended up finding a way across that did not involve driving out on the ice and falling through, but then had to do the same thing when we came to the river. This time we did not find the very shallow way, but we made it, with John carrying one of us across at a time. With three of us on the 4-wheeler with our stuff, we also had a few spots of walking, as with all the weight we were hitting some rocks. No big deal, I have hiked the whole trail more than once, walking a little bit didn't bother me...at least until the next day when I just had too many layers on and started sweating a lot walking uphill! Once at the cabin, we collected some wood, which was easy to do, and started up a fire in the cabin. Luckily the stove there has ben fixed, and with a fire it felt wonderful inside! We then headed up to the hotsprings for a soak....and another one once the stars came out. With absolutely no lights around for miles, the stars were beautiful, and it was really clear out. Sitting in the warm water felt wonderful....though getting back out was a bit chilly. At least there was a fire to go back to! The next morning we had one more soak before heading back. A lot more ice had formed on the river over-night, but we ended up finding a shallower way back at least. At one point I waited on the ice in the middle of the river while John took Christopher across and I fell through a little, but it was shallow there, and thankfully I had worn my gortex boots. I barely got wet or even noticed. By the time we got back, we were ready to make some serious food (I had packed sandwhiches, but my canned stuff remained uneaten as I had apparently NOT put the can opener in my bag as I thought I had). I'm glad Christopher got to see the springs.....our last trip out there this fall, as the ice is getting to be a little bit too much.....I didn't take too many pictures on the trip- but here are the ones I did take....
There were still a few good blueberries left to much on! Christopher and I made a batch of jam on Sunday night from berries we had picked the previous week....mm...more blueberry jam!