In which I turn into jello

Finishing Adaka was... a bit of a letdown.

When the energy, enthusiasm, and concentration that was part of the festival is suddenly gone, there's just a feeling of "what's next?" and "what can compare?"

I ended up staying and making some blog entries for part of the time, and thought about going to the boat ceremony and launch (click for a great article and lots of pictures), but just didn't want to drive all the way into town and be part of a big group. So, I decided not to do that, but to take advantage of the last afternoon at the hostel and go to the hot spring pools, since you get a 20% discount if you are a guest at the campground or hostel.

Takhini Hot Springs

Takhini Hot Springs has been known probably forever by the First Nations people who were here before the trappers, traders and gold-seekers came, but it wasn't until the 1940s when it started to be developed with the building of a wood and canvas pool. The Army men who were building the Alaska Highway, did come visit here for much needed recreation!

Today, there is a large concrete pool with one large section that's a comfortable bathtub temperature of probably about 100°F, since it feels warm when you get it, but isn't terribly hot. There is a second half-moon section that feels about 10°F hotter. These are separated by a cement barrier that has a swinging fiberglass door between the two pools, so that water does migrate from the hot to the cool(er) pool. It's amazing that a 10° difference can feel so significant when you go from one to the other. In the picture, the hot pool looks bigger than the cool pool, but it's a matter of perspective distortion: the cool pool really is quite a big bigger.

Takhini Hot Pools (photo credit: Takhini Hot Pools, Ltd.)

If you want to know more, here are lots of facts about the hot springs.

I ended up spending pretty much the whole afternoon there. It was just utterly delightful not to have to leave, but to become weak-kneed and totally relaxed.

It rained, which was cool. I think the last time I'd been swimming when it was raining was when I was five years old in Hawaii, and it made a big impression on me — that you could swim and be warm when it was raining!

I watched the antics of a couple of chipmunk youngsters who were utterly unafraid of passing bathers in their search for the tastiest grass seeds. Hanging out in the hot pool, I was just a few feet away from them. They would stretch up on their hind legs in an effort to get the hanging plumes of seed, waving their little paws to try to bring down the grass stalk. Unsuccessfully. So... chipmunks are not the brightest. They go for those attractive seeds that are out of their reach, instead of just gnawing the easily-reached stalks at their base and having them fall. Perhaps they will learn.

The folks using the pools were from all over. There were locals coming for the day: one dad had his one-year old in arms. He and  had just recently moved from BC, and had only been in Whitehorse for a couple of weeks. He said it was a great place to spend the afternoon with his daughter!

I recognized the woman who had been teaching the ravenstail weaving classes at Adaka. She was hard to miss, as she looked to be about eight months pregnant. She was there with her husband and their four multi-racial children for some much-needed relaxation (if that's possible with four kids under the age of ten). The kids were having a great time diving for "fish." It was really heartwarming to see how involved these two parents were with their entire brood. There were other kids splashing and jumping in the pool, but it was big enough that no one seemed in the least bit annoyed. There were Germans and Nordics; even Spanish speakers.

One gal with whom I had a very long conversation was a kindred spirit. She'd worked for the National Park Service in Yosemite Valley for several years, but said it got to be a bit much, so she was switching gears for the summer. She was traveling (alone) in a van, and was on her way up the Dalton Highway to do a study in the Brooks Range with a couple other researchers. They were going to be mapping and recording the growth of lichens in order to interpret the retreat of glaciers there. After that, she was looking at going back to work for the winter, maybe applying for a NPS job in the Everglades after her research project was done.

Anyway, I eventually did get out of the water, cleaner that I've been for a month, and tottered back for my last night at the hostel.

Hostel accommodations

A few comments on staying at a hostel... it can be hit or miss, but that's all part of the adventure.

Takhini Hot Springs Hostel was clean, HUGE and well-appointed kitchen (which I wish I'd taken a picture of), with ample space to eat: whether you wanted to be at a large communal table, or preferred a smaller table fore 2-4 people. The owners lived upstairs, and were actively involved with running the place and checking on things.

I had two nights sharing an otherwise empty room with Cynthia, which was wonderful. The following day, after she had left and when I got there in the evening after Adaka classes, a shirtless youth was somewhat provocatively reading in what had been Cynthia's bunk, across from mine. He seemed somewhat startled at my entry, even though it was obvious that the room was occupied by someone other than himself since my stuff was there. He did not smile, did not engage, kept the window shades closed, and seemed pretty insular. I think he might have been German. He was there for just one night.

Then there were two girls from Montreal who arrived and stayed until I left. They were not particularly friendly either, preferring to talk with one another (in French), which was fine; it was just a little odd that they did not smile, say hello or anything else. At one point, I said something innocuous in French, and one of them said, "Oh! You speak French?" to which I replied, "Un peu," but that was about the extent of our conversation.

One of those nights, another woman ended up on the bunk above me, but I neither saw nor talked with her at all (arrived after I went to sleep, was asleep in the morning before I left, and disappeared that day while I was gone).

I had a lot more interesting interactions with the motorcyclists!

Cynthia mentioned that traveling alone was not what she had expected. She said that on the whole people were not particularly friendly, even in campgrounds. They were busy on their phones, and did not seem like they wanted meet people, something that she regretted, and was one of the reasons she was so happy to have a roommate who actually wanted to talk!

On the whole, my hostel experiences have been very positive, and I'd sign up for another in a minute. John from Winnepeg let me know about another option: housing in student dorms, so I'm going to check that out as well.

Such fun with all these options!
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And since I haven't done a map for awhile, here's where I've been hanging out for the past week or so: