Camping Weekend!

Have you ever been to natural hot springs? Ones where you can see the boiling water spill out of a crack in the earth? That’s where I went last weekend with Berto and my good friends from Whistler Yohann Melissa and Astro Boy (dog).    

They are called Sloquet Hot Springs and are about a four and a half hour drive from Squamish.  First we followed highway 99 through Whistler, Pemberton, D’arcy, and until it starts to climb towards the Duffy.  Then we took a logging road on the right, there is a sign for Lilloet Lake Lodge, and followed it south for about 80kms.  It was another 8kms of a rough pot holed filled road into the camping site.  It’s a trek, but worth the drive.

When you get there it’s a camping paradise with plenty of lots and a huge tree canopy that covers the whole grounds.  We were lucky to get one with a big tarp already set up because the forecast was rain for the weekend. 

Setting up camp was easy because we were car camping due to the rain.  Blowing up an air mattress is quick with an electronic pump; I guess not really roughing it.  We had enough food and drinks to feast like kings and queens.  With camp set it was ready for the springs.

The hill down is long and a bit rocky, but the view of the huge evergreens against the near snowy peaks was breathtaking.  Before I knew it I could hear the babbling of the small river that flows beside the springs.  The land drops down beside the river and we followed the pathway, already we could feel the heat. 

The rocks are smooth around the pools, but the waters themselves are shallow.  The deepest parts are about two feet.  Blue tarps with rocks on and around them form barriers that separate the cascading pools from the heat source to the glacier river below.  The pool up top is almost boiling in temperature and we needed to sit a good distance to be in comfortable hot water. When you get too hot you can just jump in the river…if you can stand the frigid cold. I did.   

Nature had grown around the pools with fallen trees, moss, ferns and the budding trees of spring.  Night time is especially magical when tea candles are put on the wall and you can watch the shadows dance.

We had a great camping weekend with campfires, smoores, good conversations and relaxing in the springs.  The road out was long but good friends always makes the journey go by quicker.