Dippin' Down the Cascades

I took a great trip through the Oregon Cascades recently, hitting as many hot springs as I could. I gotta say - these were by far the best. There are seven pools total, all of them at the edge of a cliff overlooking the North Umpqua River. Doug Firs and Western hemlock all around. I went twice, once in the evening, around dusk, and once the following morning at 7am or so. The pools are a half-mile hike in from a dirt parking lot off a dirt road in Southern Oregon. The second time I went, I was the only one there for nearly an hour, until a guy walked up, slipped into another pool and fired up a joint. A woman showed up ten minutes later and got into another pool. Total silence except for the river down below us. For a moment I found myself struggling to believe that this place could exist. I don't why. It was right there in front of me. It was this feeling of wow, no one bought the land and closed it off, built some expensive resort, developed it into a park with an entry fee and regulations and closing times. No caution signs, no handrails. It was bliss.