High Adventure - Day 4

On Friday morning, June 14, I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. The plan for this day was to leave our heavy packs at Barlow flats and make a short-day hike into Sykes Campsite and back. The cool thing about Sykes is that it was supposed to have a natural hot spring there. If I remember right, it was about four miles (8 miles round trip) to Sykes.

It would have been a bit easier, but the trail had washed out at one point, and we had to cross the creek several times and hike up a short but very steep hill.

The hike was beautiful and other than getting wet, uneventful. When I heard there was a hot spring, I made sure to bring water shoes because places like that are always rocky. I was surprised that I may have been the only one with water shoes, so most people were crossing these creeks in bare feet. That’s tough.

When we arrived, the boys were instantly in the creek but there was no hot spring to be found. We managed to find some other hikers who told us that the hot spring was a quarter mile or so downstream and gave us some landmarks.

We all headed downstream with some gusto, but people started fading fast. It was challenging making our way down the creek because much of the way was hiking in the creek which had treacherous footing. Several people turned back.

I arrived at the hot spring with maybe a half dozen boys. It was about the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The water was trickling out of the side of the mountain and looked like it was coming out of a giant tree trunk. You can imagine my surprise when the boys all started complaining that this thing is gross, and they were upset that they had wasted their time looking for it.

They were disgusted by the sulfur smell and the moss growing in the pool. To me those were some of the best features.

On their way back, the boys were telling everyone it was a waste of time and many of them turned back and never saw the hot spring. I couldn’t help but think of the great and spacious building and how the detractors were persuading people to leave the iron rod and lose the blessing of the tree of life. The pool was paradise to me, and they were leaving.

In the end I think most of the leaders and maybe half of the boys ended up coming to the hot spring. It was right next to the creek, so it was a ton of fun to soak in the hot spring and then jump into the cold creek.

Doug Bennion enjoyed the hot spring as much as I did, and we were going back and forth between the hot spring and the creek.

We played in the creek for a bit and then headed back up the creek. Danny Hall and Jack Keddington were “cliff jumping” into the creek and it was a ton of fun.

Alas, all good things come to an end, and we eventually had to head back to Barlow Creek. It was a great day.

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• Hot springs can help boost your blood circulation. Hot spring water is flowing with calcium and sodium bicarbonate, which can boost overall oxygen flow and circulation once absorbed into the body.
• A soothing soak can aid in natural pain reduction and rehabilitation. 
• They can also help increase flexibility and circulate lactic acid out of sore muscles.
• Healing hot spring waters can also improve skin irritations and conditions. The elevated levels of sulfur in hot spring waters offer antifungal and antibacterial properties that can soothe and even help heal the skin.
• The many minerals in hot spring waters can help decrease daily stress.
• Warm hot springs cause your body to sweat, helping to clear clogged pores and increase healthy circulation.

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