Subject: My Day 2 – Arctic Expedition
I never realized birds were this noisy! Down below me from my camping vantage point I spot roughly 25 hot spring bathers spread out amongst the seven soaking pools. The birds are now louder than all those folks combined. They are singing their beaks off; perched high atop ancient cottonwood trees where I am now camped.
Early this afternoon I arrived at Crystal Hot springs Water Park & Campground (Honeyville, Utah) and just in time to witness the Bathing Beauty Contest. This one is the first they’ve had in over 50 years to celebrate their 100 year anniversary. I got here in time to become a visiting judge; so far, the seven contestants all appear to be under the age of 21; unlike their last contest fifty years ago.
This morning I left Mystic Hot Springs (Monroe, Utah) where I soaked, camped, and soaked some more before hitting the road. Hot Springs seem to come in all types of varieties. There is definitely a night and day difference between these two. Crystal Hot Springs chooses to harness the water and then place it in well controlled pools with some user friendly amenities thrown in. Mystic chooses the more almost authentic hippie like approach with a bit of run down – let me move this pipe over here or there to either cool you or heat you back up approach.
One does take some chances at Mystic Hot springs as the water I am told starts out at 169 degrees and then before cascading down several hillsides is harnessed by taking the duct tape and bailing wire approach via open and broken PVC pipes. The cast iron bathtubs stuck to the hillside do make for some fantastic pictures; if you can look beyond the rough walk path and debris spread throughout the area to include an abandoned cement pool, various school buses that serve as makeshift lodging, ancient worn and torn down Mormon log homes, and graffiti panel trucks.
If you are a mineral hot springs connoisseur you would be interested to know that Crystal Hot Springs ranks in at 46,093 dissolved solids in parts per million making this water extremely clear and much sought after. The other famous hot springs throughout the world in places like Greece (38,396); Chile (13,462); Germany, Russia, Japan, Canada don’t even begin to come close. The next one recommended to me by a hot springs connoisseur is Norris Hot Springs in Montana. We’ll see.
This morning when I woke up the first thing I did was to look after my trusty jeep steed. So far it’s brought me here without any trouble whatsoever – getting about 18.888+ mpg using synthetic oil. There really wasn’t much to do other than straighten up the inside similar to what you do at home. At times traveling down the road really did feel like I was steering a little ship. At other times my little ship felt more like a Sherman tank; especially when passing multi-trailered semi’s doing 75 mph. I even saw several signs posting a speed limit of 80 mph. There does not appear to be a speed limit problem here in Utah.
My little jeep (2002 Wrangler X) is both low and high tech. Low tech because it is a five speed manual transmission with the same design from the past that can practically go anywhere. The slight lift and expedition gear seem to make it more of a real head turner. The inside compartment is now also high tech due to the Magellan GPS 7” screen; the affixed Flip It Video Camera and GoPro video. I now realize I am carrying four GPS’s. One that is part of my Droid smart phone; the Magellan, the Nuvi that inputs waypoints, and the Garmin 76CX that I used while hiking.
On my way to the Mystic Hot Springs community bathroom I spot a new REI tent on the lawn and a BMW motorcycle near it. In no time Café Racer and I are talking expeditions. He is in the process of making a documentary currently titled the Café Racer project. I believe his real name is Randy from the state of Washington. Café Racer is now making his way back up to Washington after making his way down to California.
Before I left Café Racer interviewed me about expeditions in general; hiking the Pacific Crest trail and the Arctic Jeep Expedition. He asked some really great interviewing questions that you don’t get from average Joe American who if he has to ask “why” anything you say would still no makes sense.
See you on the trail!
Trawlercat
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