Hot Springs Doubleheader, day 2

 

Here's our route on day 2. First, Sam gave us a ride to a creek mouth near the mile-long trail to Horner Hot Springs, which was roaring in the 20s, with a roadhouse and many visitors, but hums with deep silence now.

 

Here we are at the magic moment of any wilderness trip—when your motorized conveyance departs, and the air gets still, and it's all up to you. From left, Dan, Ed, Jim and Mark. Ed and Dan had skied here on Winter Solstice, so they knew where the trailhead was. It would have been incredibly hard to find that alder marked with faded red flagging without them.

 

Here are a few of the boys enjoying what remains of the hot springs. Tamara had shown us a photo of Horner Hot Springs in its heyday, with Mrs. Horner posing by a large roadhouse right above us here. We found no trace of the roadhouse. Nor Mrs. Horner.

 

Horner Hot Springs is the Tropics on the Yukon. Giant ferns and wild celery. Drop me in there blindfolded and have me open my eyes, no way I'd think I was in Interior Alaska.

 

Some nice views of the Yukon on our hot trip upward into the Kokrines Hills.

 

Eddy had seen this gem of a lake on the map above and made it our goal to camp there our first night in the country. Magnificent. We cooked and ate on the peninsula in the background, a good haven from bugs.

 

And, after a steep hike on an 80-degree day, we all took the plunge in the lake, coming up with an expression like Ed's here and scrambling out to the rare-in-AK experience of drip drying in warm hot air. The water was 46 degrees, about the temperature of the milk in your fridge. We would hike to a similar lake, in an even more impressive amphitheater of the Kokrines Hills, the next day. Till then . . .