On our second day at Halfway River Hot Springs – we made the steeper – but shorter route down to the lesser known pools that we had discovered the night before. We had them to ourselves – and naturally sans bathing suit. We weren’t too surprised to find these empty. It was a Monday afternoon – and despite the campsite being full – most people were down at the main springs. About fifteen minutes or half a White Claw into our soak – we heard ruffling from the cliffs above with other soakers on their way down. I looked at Jay – who could read my face as it was saying “should we grab our bathing suits?” He hasn’t actually worn a bathing suit at all at Halfway – he feels that far from civilization it just isn’t necessary. That morning – even with others in the same larger pool as us – he just explained we were playing “strip 20 questions” and was losing. He wasn’t wrong – we were playing 20 questions and he was losing – he just never had shorts on to begin with. Nudity isn’t allowed at this springs – but as I mentioned before – it’s assumed. The camp ground / keeper of the springs – Bob – has seen us naked before – and I am sure seen a lot more nudity than us. This morning – he came by and was taking water samples and picking up any empties left over from people the night before while Jay wasn’t wearing a bathing suit and the two of them struck up a five minute conversation about the spawning fish. Indifferent.
I was still apprehensive. Didn’t want to be the only naked people in a group of strangers. I didn’t know how many people were coming down – at least two – and in my head was leaning towards at least putting my bathing suit bottoms on if not top and bottoms if it was a large group of textiled bathers. Jay – with a reassuring “just own-it” affirmation – gave me the confidence to just continue enjoying my drink and my soak. I am on vacation after all – day drinking is acceptable. As an older couple emerged from the same entry way Jay and I stumbled upon the other skinny dipping couple the day before – we gave a friendly hello – and went back to our soak.
The soaking pools in these lower springs were much like the World War 2 fox holes you’d see in a movie like Band of Brothers. Dug out of the river bank and the hot water pools from the bottom – and you can control the temp by damning the hotter water into your pool – or sculpt an exit for the hot water into a neighbouring pool – or even build a path for the river water to seep its way in depending how close you are to the actual source of the hot water. The fox holes themselves also offer up privacy from a few of the pools if you’re laying down. Which we were – laying on our backs – fully exposed to the world above us – including the couple that was standing right above us.
So what I said in my head – they’ve seen it now – might as well “just own-it” as per Jay’s advice. And I did – and Jay and I just went back on to our discussion about whether or not I would let him try and climb this steep slope on the other side of the river. Wasn’t a discussion as much as me telling him no. The pools we were in were a three parts – with the furthers right being the source and quite hot. Too hot to lounge in. The middle one was nice – but a little small for two soakers. And then there was the third – the one Jay and I were in. To our pleasant surprise – the older man (Jim) that had just come down was entering the pool beside us completely naked – and his wife was behind him – stripping down nude herself as well.
The four of us were soon all completely naked – in the three pools – with Jim’s wife (I can’t for the life of me remember her name, and it was a really cute name. Jay says it sounded like Rhododendron – but it definitely wasn’t..). With as much confidence an older couple could climb down the loose rocky side of the pools – they were confidently soaking butt naked with us. It was great – and then Jim’s wife – let’s call her Rhonda – explains this was their first time skinny dipping! I was shocked! And amazed! And Excited! And was like “REALY?!?!?!” as I couldn’t believe it. So much confidence – and not a care in the world as if they were naturals. Here I am – a seasoned expert thinking of putting my bathing suit on when a stranger approaches – and nervous. And these two are first timers and rocking it!Rhonda explained that they have been camping for 45 years – and their second time coming to Halfway – and just arrived that morning and were only staying for the night. She said they had seen us walking down this unknown trail by their camp site with towels and were curious what was down here and thought they would check it out. And almost more kudos for making it up and down this trail as much as rocking the first time skinny dip. I had to take two breaks myself each time hiking up. But she explained she came down – saw us naked and enjoying ourselves – and thought “heck one less thing to wash when I get home.” I chuckled – and thought to my quote on bitsandbums.com that “towels dry faster than bathing suits” in reference to my own jovial answer to why I like to swim naked.
I am pretty confident that Rhonda was joking when she said “one less thing to wash” was the reason she convinced herself and her husband to skinny dip with strangers. We ended up bringing our dinner over to their site later that night and shared a camp fire and she has an amazing sense of humor – and I feel her quick wit gave me that answer. But while we were still soaking – Jim did reaffirm that this was the first time they had ever done anything like that. He explained as a kid at camp with his friends they all jumped off a dock into a lake – insert cliched coming of age movie scene. I didn’t actually think to dig deep into what actually prompted them to get naked. Or what conversation happened by the log their clothes and freshly laundered bathing suits rested on.
We talked for hours. We hit it off. It was like long time friends catching up, sharing stories, laughing, and loving life. Naked. But we weren’t long time friends – we were strangers. And we were comfortable – in our own skin – in a hot springs in the middle of no where. While I didn’t ask what got them naked that day – I did reveal our hobby of getting naked whenever and wherever possible. Explained some of our favourite moments – some of our stranger moments – and even spoke about meeting this younger couple the morning before. Jim asked if it was “Chris and Emily” and as they saw both our smiles – Rhonda explained they took their spot – after Jim helped him jump his truck that morning.
While writing this blog – like this exact instance of writing – I stared at the cursor flashing back and forth for I would think five minutes. Not because of writers block. My long time readers know I will just end a blog abruptly if that was the case – but because I was reminiscing of how amazing these two days at the lower springs had been. Which was great – because the next day – at the upper springs – the better known and more established hot springs tubs – just as magical – just a little bit more embarrassing. But that is a story for next time.
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