Goldmyer Hotsprings

Upper Middle Fork Snoqualmie
Distance – 10 mile round trip
Elv Gain – 200' (1820' High Point)

It had been about two weeks since I last hiked. An accident had left me sore with back and neck pains and I have spent a great deal of time figuring out work and spending time around Cedar Falls Farm. There is one thing that over time sets in with me, cabin fever. My legs were meant to do miles, and I have discovered that with out movement, I cannot think beyond mental loops. The act of walking up a trail, any trail seems to put energy into what ever problem I am trying to solve and gives it new light. Trails act as meditation in movement, a vital part of the Yamabushi practice that I prescribe to. The input of new views, smells, sounds take my mind down alternate ways of looking at what is before me. So what was a simple get out and drive up to a river bar on the Middle Fork, instead leads me to Dingford Creek Trailhead and the upper reaches of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.

This reach of wild river valley hold a special value to it. By virtue of a dirt/gravel road, you are able to sneak your way into the folds of the Cascade's deep woods. You get yourself behind the Snoqualmie Crest of Snoqualmie Pass and right up into the base of it's most notable mtns. Here, Chair Peak, Snoqualmie Mtn and the black bell of Mount Thompson rise directly from the valley floor. While forming a narrow slot, the light of the spring seems to seep down and warm the track along the river side. This is a great place for a stroll as it would seem. With 5 miles to Goldmyer Hotsprings, you walk through halls of moss and ferns, and rows of trillium reaching out for the suns first rays. This place can at at times seem dark, damp and cold. But on this day it was indeed a verdant oasis of the other, reminding the soul of the summer ahead.

With all temples, you must enter through a gateway. The bridge over the raging Dingford Creek acted as this. White with the intensity of winter's melt descending from high up on the shelf of the Alpine Lakes Traverse. The echos of this descent seemed to resound the valley like a base drum, allowing for one to feel it deep in the chest and recharge the spirit. Steps quicken, strides are purposeful to such reverberations and the heart seems to pulse with the quickening.

After the walk up the valley, you come to the base of Bootburn Creek, and the grove at Goldmyer. Cedars stand tall and large, and it seems that every type of rainforest flora and fauna make there habitat there. What you might curse a few days later in soggy-sneaker weather of the PNW, you marvel at is production. Like a verdant canvas of multiple shades of green, the awakening canopy of winter's slumber brings upon its spring buds, against the crown of dark evergreens of might stands. The reds and whites of salmonberry and thimbleberry highlight the trail, the yellow beacons of skunk cabbage line out the wetlands in the distance, and as always the delicate three petaled trillium lines the trails edge through the grove.

With a short conversation with the Caretaker about the couples stay in this back-end of the Snoqualmie, and the coming summer of high country ahead, I make my way to the Hotsprings Deck. There among moss and wood, the charging Bootburn just in front of me, I soak my bones in the warm waters of this fracture of the earth. While I have been coming to these special places all my life, I find it best alone. Typically, friends have came up with a host of excuses as to why the do not dip in Natural Spring water, but ultimately I enjoy the solace of nature present with only one to enjoy it's words.

Today, I have made it before the group of 16 Japanese hikers have made it up the trail. A central part of their culture back home, they seek out these places on the edge of their pacific rim home. Gain the same warmth and rejuvenation as back in the pools of Wakayama Prefectures or on the pilgrims track of Shikoku Island. Soon they will round the bend in their newly purchased NW Gear, and talk of work and family in their own tounge. But for now the pool and the sauna cave are mine to enjoy for a few hours before setting home.

Raven seem as always to follow me. It is not long before he finds me here as well, perching on long baugh of the cedar tree and watching intently making his calls, awaiting my response. I give in to his demands, having a short conversation, before making my way back down the trail. The day is a warm one, and I do not hurry down the trail. Sauntering from river beach to forest grove, I pass a few forest wanderer's making their way into the deep.  The suffering of the past few days seems to melt and the long rainy-ache of hard realities seems worlds away. Home in the Valley of the Deep Woods, my spirit seems to be recharged and my boots ready to roam...

-- Ridgewalker