In Hot Water
October 1977, May 1982

Approximately 45 miles east of Seattle there is a cave with 115° water pouring out of it.  This luxury is called Goldmeyer Hot Spring.  A short distance from the spring the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River flows by.  When I visited the place it was raw, and all of the improvements that had been made it to it had long since decayed away to nothing.  All of this guilt free water is the epitome of luxury.  I was able to visit it twice, once near the beginning of my sojourn in Seattle and once at the end of my adventures.  Both times were exercises in pure hedonism and relaxation.

The first time was with folks I came to Seattle with and was a day lark in October and the weather was cool and overcast.  The springs were crowded with fellow hedonists.  There was a small impoundment outside of the cave where the water was cooler but cave was also full of bathers.  Inside the cave I was struck by a vision from Dante’s inferno. The interior was bathed by candle light that cast a reddish glow,  the air was filled with a slightly sulfurous  smell and the cave was filled with naked bodies.  We spent the day alternating between soaking in the heat and plunging into the river By the time we waddled back to the car, our bones were “Jell–O.”    

Later that winter the road was cut by flooding and the springs became inaccessible for several years.  I always wanted to return to the springs and I once visited Olympic Hot Springs on the peninsula, but it was four and a half years before I returned to Goldmeyer.  

It was the first weekend of May in 1982.  This time of year is something of a down time with the mountains too open for skiing and too closed for much hiking and approaches to interior peaks.  In short it was a perfect weekend for relaxing and hedonism.   The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River road was open so the approach was easy except for a potentially dicey river ford.  To our surprise the springs were unoccupied and we were able to lounge and soak unhindered all day.  After supper Dave and Caren went to bed and I returned to the pool to enjoy more soaking in the dark accompanied only by my thoughts and the stars visible through the trees a between the mountains around us.

After a while a heard a rumble from voices coming down the trail to the spring as a group of soakers approached.  As arrived they stripped and joined me in the pool.  A bottle of wine appeared and we all drank, talked quietly, and enjoyed nature’s bounty.  This was as fine a way to spend a Saturday night as I know of.  Late that evening the others returned home and I went to bed.

The next morning I rose early and explored the area for the first time.  Upstream I found other springs that were flowing directly into the river and evidently were much hotter than the main spring.  After the explorations I returned to our camp and we ate breakfast, afterwards we had another short soak and then returned to Seattle.

This was my last complete trip into the woods