Snow Plows have blocked access

The snow berm across the entrance of FS850 - image courtesy a friendly WSP trooperWe got a good dumping of snow in the Cascades on Monday . . . up to 14 inches in some places. You can expect snow from Skykomish on up. The pass cam shows US2 unplowed of several inches.FS850, the access to Scenic Hot Springs, is well within the heavy snow zone and according to one report there is a snow berm in

Why you should care . . .

A few of the many 38cal(?) cartridges we found scattered around the base of the Monster TubI won't go into why firing guns from the hot spring pools is such an incredibly stupid idea. I've had guns fired in my direction on two occasions up at Scenic. I don't like the idea of an errant bullet whizzing past my head on the trail downslope.Irresponsible gun usage is one of the reasons we have rules

Snowtime at Scenic

A dusting of snow near the main springs at 3,500ftNot much yet but it's coming as a new weather system with high winds and a lot of moisture is due in Monday. The freezing level is down around 2,400ft.

Why no Sulphur Smell at Scenic . . .

A question I often get from those who have been to Scenic is "How come there is very little rotten egg smell like other hot springs?" Often the pungent smell of Olympic Hot Springs is brought up in comparison. Scenic Hot Springs barely has any smell, whatsoever. Why?That rotten egg smell is the result of H2S, or hydrogen sulphide. As ground waters percolate downward and heat up, minerals are

Last Chance This Year: Clean Up Party Oct 27th, 2007

An ounce of prevention . . .The snow's not far behind us and this is our last chance to join with Mike to clean-up the springs area in preparation for the winter season. We need to do a substantial bit of winter erosion control and cleanup.Dress for the weather and be prepared to get dirty. It's hard to predict where the snow will be so dress in layers; have good, sturdy boots; and work gloves.

The Hot Springs Guy: YouTube Western US Hot Springs Player

Well, my friend Josh over at Idaho Hot Springs (also known as TheHotSpringsGuy) has given us a great new resource in the form of a video tease of a number of natural hot springs in the Northwest. Check it out and pay Josh a visit at his great website. Rick

Impromptu Clean Up Party Sept 9th, 2007

An impromptu cleanup party is being held at Scenic this coming Saturday (Sep 8th, 2007). This is short notice. What we will be doing is moving some of the trash from the upper levels further lower on the trail to where it can be more easily picked up during later cleanups. As a result of the winter and springs weather much of the garbage pile of odd construction materials got scattered and is