Day 69: Benton Crossing, CA

Today’s quote of the day was from Liam, “Sometimes it is about the journey, not the destination.” Spoiler alert: today’s journey was bumpy but very, very fun.

We were up in time to see the full moon set over the mountains at the frosty temperature of -3 degrees Celsius. We headed off in our bathing suits and housecoats to soak and watch the sunrise at Crab Cooker Hot Springs. It was glorious; the cold air mixed with hot water was so good it pretty much defies description.

It is below zero! Brrr.

Here comes the sun!

So steamy.

After drying off back at the campground and devouring hot oatmeal for breakfast with fresh coffee from the camp store, we headed to Convict Lake to try our luck fishing for trout. We have never seen so much pressure on a lake on a Tuesday! The lake was rammed with fishermen (and women) fishing off shore, the bridge, boats, kayaks, and paddle boards! The lake had been stocked a few days prior so we could see trout swimming by and jumping but they were generally uninterested in biting the bait anyone was offering. We did have one chase a worm and bite, which Ian managed to reel in. Woot! Woot!

After hotdogs on the BBQ for lunch accompanied by three free root beer floats (since each boy found a special rock today), we headed on an off-roading adventure. We drove a narrow, single lane, rutted, uneven, steep, dirt road to visit the Crowley Lake columns. The drive was exciting (a bit nuts?!) to put it mildly. We used 4-wheel drive and bottomed out several times but thanks to Ian’s incredible driving abilities, we made it to the parking lot relatively unscathed.

Narrow and windy - here we come!

It is impossible to tell in the photo how steep this is with DEEP ruts.

Fat car squeeze! We just fit through.

The columns were pretty cool. They are essentially petrified steam vents that developed when snowmelt mixed with hot volcanic ash and then were uncovered as Crowley Lake water eroded away the surrounding sand. The lake level is high this time of year due to snowmelt so the columns were still partially submerged. This we expected. What surprised us was the thick carpet of algae covering the entire beach area adjacent to the columns. We thought that we might be able to swim on the beach but upon arriving, we realized that this would be absolutely disgusting (and probably unsanitary) and would not be happening. We saw what we could from the cliff and beach and headed back for the return drive on the crazy road.

We made it to the parking lot. Whew!

Down we go to the beach. See the algae? Ugh.

The algae carpet. It was thick. Ick.

Our last adventure of the day involved checking out the last few hot springs in the area. Table Tub Hot Springs was a smaller but deeper tub built into the side of a rocky outcrop. 

Shepherd Hot Springs was a small concrete tub that was occupied when we arrived, so we moved on. Finally, Hilltop Hot Springs was a winner. The water was really hot, the wind at the top of the hill was cool and refreshing, and we had amazing 360 degree mountain views.

Bacterial mats on the hot water. Note that this was NOT in the hot tub but on the landscape surrounding the tub. Pretty cool.

Dinner is BBQ chicken legs and corn-on-the-cob prepared by Liam and Seamus. They are getting fantastic at cooking on the BBQ! It has been a very full and very fun day - even if it was a tad bumpy.