August 5th – 7th
Hot Springs Cove
As we leave Rae Basin we
see Peter continuing his work on splitting cedar into usable pieces and the six
lads gathered around his little beach cottage.
Then we are a short hop to
Hot Springs Cove, a favorite place of ours.
We see Tumbleweed tied to the dock as we go by on our way to the
anchorage. We anchor fairly close to the
Innchanter, the anchored bed and breakfast owned by Shaun. I phone Shaun to see if perhaps this time we
can have breakfast on his beautiful boat.
He says that he is crazy full today but come on down, the coffee just
went on.
As we join Shaun and his
lively large group of guests he explains to them that he likes the name of our
boat, ExTerra, and asks us to explain the meaning. “For me,” I say, “I retired from a group that
was creating a database for terrestrial data for the U.S. Forest Service. Thus I am “ExTerra.”” Carl tells them “I was a terrestrial wildlife
biologist for the Forest Service, also now retired. And of course the boat takes us “off the land”
every summer so the boat is named ExTerra.”
After enjoying coffee and
conversation on Shaun’s new floating garden deck we hop back in the dinghy and
head to the dock. We visit with
Tumbleweed folks, Bob and Marie and then head up for the mile and a half
boardwalk hike to the hot strings. We
have waited until 7:30 to hopefully reach the springs after most of the folks
who come in by fast boat and small plane.
Along the way, about 400 steps up the walk we find “our” board and Carl
carves the year into the plank with his dremel tool. We first carved the board in 2014, then 2015
and now 2019. Hopefully it will still be
in place next time we return as we hear that the walk is going to be replaced.
We then mosey on up the boardwalk
and climb into the very enjoyable, just right springs. It seems a bit colder this year as I can
actually tolerate standing up under the hotter part of the springs that
cascades over the rocks, a welcome, hot water shower, albeit, no soap or shampoo
allowed.
We share the springs with
some of Shaun’s guests and then head back down the boardwalk arriving back to
the dock around dark. We stop by and
knock on Tumbleweed’s hull to let them know we will take a raincheck on the beer
due to the hour, however Marie pops her head out and say “Would you like to
join us for spaghetti? We just sat down.” What a welcome treat after missing dinner so
that we could enjoy the hot springs.
We know that we have
chatted with each other a few times over the years but we have never been on
each other’s boats. It is nice to see
them comfortable ensconced in their environment and we marvel at how well laid
out the boat is for it’s size of 26 feet.
We talk for nearly an hour over spaghetti and invite them to dinner the
next evening. They loan us their
flashlight so we can find our way back to the boat.
The following evening we
have Bob and Marie over for dinner and show them our boat. We have a very leisurely dinner and chat for
a few hours finding many overlaps with them.
We each have grown kids. They spent
time with the Forest Service. Marie was
in the Peace Corps which was something we seriously considered but were never
able to pull off. After a lively,
diverse discussion we say our goodbyes, knowing that we will meet again.
When we pull out in the
morning Shaun comes out and yells “I really hope to have you over for breakfast
next time!” We look forward to that.
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