While the resort and RV park is modern in all respects today, the original hot spring sections of the resort still exist. Here is a photo of one of the original pools --
-- and, below, Kathy examines one of the original stone outdoor hot tubs:
This is an early stone bathhouse built at the natural pools:
On one of our first days here, we took a soak in the current pools, but they were not remarkable, being large swimming pools filled with warm water and crowds of tourists on vacation. We had been far more impressed with the natural-type hot springs we found at Liard River Hot Springs, Chena Hot Springs and Takhini Hot Springs.
Because this was our last day, we wanted to try a local hike. A number of interesting hiking trails head out directly from the campground, and we had explored a few of the shorter ones. This day, we decided to try the Owl's Loop and Pop Bottle Ridge trails, which were advertised to take us to "spectacular" views of Columbia Lake, a lake formed by the widening of the Columbia River just south of our campground.
All hikes in the Rocky Mountains involve "up" and this hike was no exception. Our trail started UP from the campground, even though our destination was in the opposite direction. Here we are, looking up-trail toward Fairmont Mountain.
Most of the trail wound through a dense green forest. We were surprised to see so many signs of approaching fall, with the yellowing of aspen and birch leaves, and the ground cover turning shades of orange and gold:
Much of this forest was moist, even though the surrounding valley is relatively dry. The ground was covered in moss, and moss hung from trees. We found this large mossy guy hanging out with some low bushes:
The trail was easy, soft and clear. Our worst obstacle was a fallen tree that still lay above David's head:
At one point, the trail passed some awesome formations of very old, hard stone, covered in lichen and moss. Kathy stopped to make friends:
This fellow, part of the old stone formation, demonstrated nearly every color in the rainbow, just on his own up-jutting surface:
About 2.5 miles out, we reached Pop Bottle Ridge, which overlooks the Columbia River, and had views spanning from the north --
-- to the northwest --
-- to the west and some beautiful tuff cliffs overlooking the highway and river --
-- to the south and Columbia Lake:
We paused for a selfie at our lunch spot on the ridge...
...and kicked back to enjoy a sandwich and the view:
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