美丽舒适的Meager Creek温泉，去前的描述

楼主 / 西行客

各位，大家好！

看了老虎给我的短信，我又整理了这个方便到达、老少皆宜的Meager泉较详细的描述，连接为：

www3.telus.net/public/...rs/meager/

这个泉非常的好，在里面泡的时候非常的梦幻，尤其晚上，其实更有名的是她的旁边有一条很好的Trail,这条Trailsh是从Squamish出发，北上沿着Squamish River到Upper Squamish River Campsite后，左拐，进入Ealho River河谷，沿着
Ealho Main Road继续北上，到了Elaho Giant后，以后的路就只能Hiking了，上走2天，就可以到达Meager Creek HotSpring,可以在这里泡泉享受了！

这区域秋季熊较多，人少，但是是一条hiking的经典线路！

具体的图可以在《Backroad Mapbook》书上看到！

这个泉，加西的很多朋友都去过，枫下客、色友等都去过，有兴趣的可以问问他们！

我准备在近10天的好天气的时候去，在温泉边Camping一晚：

第一天：

线路1：到达温泉，扎营，轻装南走18Km，来回36Km，走到Mist Lake Campsite，这里是两个小湖，然后回返：

线路2：到达温泉，扎营，轻装沿Barr Creek 走到Harrison Hut看看那边的冰川和Ski Touring
当晚回到温泉，泡到多久算多久，愿意的话，也可以泡到天亮。

第二天，接着泡，然后考察另一处温泉，回温哥华！

连接的内容如下：

Meager Creek Hotsprings
Updated March 2004

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This site represents my own opinions and has no official status. I welcome further information, corrections, and reports of road conditions, which I accept by e-mail at the address at the bottom of the page.

I haven't been to the springs since July 2003. I'll add updates after I make my first trip this year or if I get reports from other travelers.

Hotsprings Recreation Site
Hotspring pools are located near the bottom of an open field that has a number of hot streams running through it. There's a large concrete-and-rock pool, about 3 feet deep, with a hot waterfall running in. There are two smaller rock pools beside Meager Creek. All pools are cleaned regularly by the facility operator when the springs are open, usually May through October. An outhouse is located near the pools along a gravel path, and there's a changing room beside the large pool.

Meager Creek Hotsprings is a Ministry of Forests day-use recreation site, with a daily user fee charged per person ($5 in 2003). Camping is not permitted near the springs. From the day-use parking lot, it's a few minutes walk to the hotsprings. Operating hours vary during the year, and the road is gated at the bridge over Lillooet River when the site is closed.

Free overnight camping (undeveloped) is located at 36 km on the Lillooet River road about 8km before the hotsprings. There are outhouses, picnic tables, and tent pads. There's a charge of $10 per night

The facility operator enforces site regulations and brings in the RCMP in case of trouble. The police are called if people hike into the springs after hours. Signs indicate that laws have been amended so that it's illegal to be at the springs outside of operating hours.

Meager Creek has lost it's character of the early 1990's. Nighttime bathing is not possible and the old regulars no longer go there. The tourist information office and various businesses around Whistler are directing tourists to the hotsprings. It can therefore be rather crowded, with hundreds of visitors daily on long weekends.

Access
According to the Squamish Forest District, the bridge across Meager Creek is washed out and the site is inaccessible.

Meager Creek is actually a substantial river and can't be crossed on foot. Check the home page of the Squamish Forest District for bulletins and news about Meager Creek, and the recreation site page. Also check their latest road information.

For driving directions to Meager Creek, see my Stoltmann Wilderness Trail web page.

When the recreation site is officially closed, there are large and rather threatening signs along the road that clearly indicate that it is against the law to drive the last 7 km to the hotsprings. They explain the hazards in the area. These signs are covered up when the site is open, so as not to scare the tourists away.

The road is sometimes closed at the Lillooet River bridge if the final 7 km to the hotsprings are unsafe for driving. It's a 1- to 2-hour walk from there to the springs. Washouts may occur at Capricorn Creek, 4 km before the hotsprings, and crossing the creek on foot can be extremely dangerous.

The road often floods along Lillooet River in the fall. It is closed in winter and usually blocked by snow from late November until May. After the snow melt begins in April, the main Lillooet River road is sometimes plowed to 37km or further, depending on industrial activity. It is sometimes possible to ski the last 7 km into the springs at that time. If you're interested, you'll have to drive up the road to check conditions since information from the Ministry of Forests is inaccurate.

Meager Creek Hotsprings
Meager Creek Hotsprings sits in a deep valley on the eastern edge of glacier-covered mountain ranges of the southern BC coast. It's a region of past volcanic activity and present geologic activity. Steep terrain of volcanic ash and river gravel makes this an area of landslides, floods, and avalanches. It's also a area full of wildlife. I have seen black bear, cougar, moose, and a wolf here. Grizzly bear and wolves still pass through valleys to the west and north. Rugged hiking trails accessible from the area lead south to the Elaho River and north to Athelney Pass.

Meager Creek Hotsprings has, for over 25 years, been used by naturist bathers looking to spend time in one of the most impressive natural settings in BC. Instructions for getting to the springs can be found in several guide books available in bookstores in B.C.

Pictures
Follow this link to my Meager Creek Picture Page (it takes a while to load). The pictures were taken on a trip to the springs on August 30, 1998. The wooden pools were removed in November 1998.

Follow this link to New Meager Creek Pictures, showing the new rock pool, taken in June 1999.

History
I admit that my knowledge of the spring's history is sketchy, based on a little reading, speaking with other visitors, and my own trips here over the past 12 years. I welcome corrections, and you can e-mail me using the icon at the bottom of the page.

In 1974 BC Hydro built a road to the Meager Creek area so that geothermal power resources could be surveyed. The work included resistivity surveys of surrounding slopes, diamond drilling, and analysis of the water and heat flows of the main hotsprings area. With road access, visitors arrived and built pools. Meager Creek hotsprings quickly became a place for bathing and retreat. Some of the first visitors included "draft dodgers" and "hippies" who made the place their home.

Both industry and public recreation moved in during the following years. Meager Creek valley has been extensively logged. Exploratory geothermal wells were drilled by a private company hoping to build a power plant. These wells are now capped, and can be found by taking the right fork roughly 2 km before the springs, driving just past Angel Falls, and turning right onto a short branch road. Meager Creek hotsprings was made a "Forest Service Recreation Site" maintained by the BC Ministry of Forests. The Varsity Outdoors Club of UBC built a hut at 5500 ft altitude near Mount Overseer, with access by a rough hiking route from the road along South Meager Creek past the hotsprings.

In the fall of 1984 a flood covered the hotsprings terrace and wiped out part of the road, leaving people and their vehicles stranded. In 1986 two large wooden bathing pools, stairways, trails, and a large parking lot were constructed. Slowly the number of visitors grew until tens of thousands per year were coming in the early 1990's. A couple of articles in the "Vancouver Sun" described how to get there. Large crowds brought the inevitable problems with alcohol, drugs, road accidents, vandalism, and occasional violence. By 1994, hundreds of cars could be found in the parking lot on long weekends. After labour day that year, "Mac," who was then tending the site on contract to the Ministry of Forests, installed "no alcohol" signs out of frustration.

On the May long weekend of 1995, the first busy weekend of the year, the Ministry of Forests attempted to control nudity and alcohol at the site. They confiscated alcohol from vehicles coming in, but quickly gave up on the nudity. That summer, a system was implemented where Mac collected camping fees and limited the number of campers. So, the fall of 1995 was quite peaceful with a reasonable number of well-behaved visitors. Misleading radio reports of the campsite being full were an indication that the "powers that be" would prefer the recreation site closed.

Summer of 1995 saw more geothermal exploration in the area. Pacific GeoPower (partly owned by Crew Development Corporation) had the geothermal lease, and BC Hydro was looking for more private power generating capacity. So, the road was extended up Meager Creek valley past Angel Falls and the largest drilling rig in Canada was brought in. A new well was drilled to a depth of several kilometers, but it was decided in September not to approve the power plant. The well was capped and the drilling rig quickly removed. The wellhead can still be found off a branch near the end of the road.

Summer of 1995 also saw more recreational development. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee flagged a trail from the Elaho River valley northward to the road on South Meager Creek. This trail was further developed in 1996. It passes through part of the once-proposed "Stoltmann Wilderness," named for mountaineer Randy Stoltmann who died in an avalanche in 1994. It is now easy to do a day or overnight hike to spectacular alpine meadows from the hotsprings area, if you know how to find the trailhead.

In early 1996 there was a bureaucratic panic related to government liability over health risks at the springs. Legal geniuses worried that BC's regulations for public swimming pools might apply to all natural hotsprings on crown land in BC. Without a million dollars for change rooms, showers, filtration, and chemical treatment, Meager Creek hotsprings must be shut down! This viewpoint was presented in a front-page article in the Vancouver Sun on April 2, 1996 entitled "Health regulations threaten to close Meager Creek hotsprings."

Locked gates were installed on the roads but were soon broken through. So, in an act of government vandalism, a crew was flown in to inflict damage to all of the pools so that they could not hold water. It was threatened that if bathing continued, all traces of the pools must be removed and a staff would be hired to prevent bathing or new pool construction. "Closed" and "Biohazard" signs were installed at the pools and on the roads. Mac's contract to maintain the recreation site was not renewed.

Loyal visitors immediately returned and the pools were soon repaired. Public meetings were held in the summer of 1996 to discuss the future of the springs, but decisions were delayed until water studies could be carried out in 1997. Government panic subsided and the Ministry of Forests left the site alone. The only people to benefit from all the fuss and meetings were the contractors hired to do water studies. The number of visitors remained small from 1996 to June of 1998, with the majority of people being scared off by the "Closed" signs. It was very pleasant to use the pools during this period.

In 1997 a rough trail was marked in an area to the north, from a branch of the Upper Lillooet River road into the Salal Creek valley. It was possible to hike up this valley to Athelney Pass, and on toward Downton Lake west of Gold Bridge. I have not used this trail for several years and do not know its present condition.

There was little or no cutting of timber in the Meager Creek valley in early 1998, and so the road received no maintenance. In June of 1998 the last 8 km of road to the hotsprings was closed by the Ministry of Forests branch in Squamish due to instability. At the end of August the road washed out at Capricorn Creek.

By November 1998 the road had been repaired and some logging was taking place. Both wooden pools had been removed and a new concrete-and-rock pool was built where the lower wooden pool used to be. A changing room, benches, and an outhouse were built near the new pool. Mike Sato, knowledgable about hotspring construction in Japan, worked within the constraints of the hotspring water study and BC health regulations to construct the new hotspring pool and to upgrade the old ones near the creek. Mike Sato operated the site from 1999 to 2001.

The recreation site and campground re-opened in June 1999. The road washed out at Capricorn Creek in late June and some campers were stranded. After that, the campsite was closed for fear of more washouts. More washouts did occur in 1999 and the springs were sometimes inaccessible, or walk-in only. The site was accessible by road again in September and a day-use parking lot was located at the old "A-frame" site before the Meager Creek bridge.

It appears that in August 1999 Meager Creek Hotsprings was exempted from Ministry of Health swimming pool regulations. All "Closed" and "Biohazard" signs were removed.

In 1999 geological work was done in the area and several landslide and debris-flow hazards were found. They are now marked by signs on the roads. Conveniently, one of these hazards is in the small creek directly across the river from the hotspring site, so the site was closed at night. I hope this hazard also prevents any commercial resort development at the hotsprings.

In June 2000 the recreation site was re-opened for day use only with a fee of $5 per person. The two old rock pools beside Meager Creek were rebuilt. Many tourists began to visit Meager Creek, directed there by information centers in Whistler. Some guides began bringing tourists to the hotspring site and running organized hikes to other hidden hotsprings in the area. Guiding services began advertising trips, on the internet, to unspecified hotsprings east of Whistler (probably Skookumchuck and Sloquette Creek). Unfortunately, this trend toward paid guiding and exploitation of back-country sites will probably grow as Whistler-Pemberton area tourism expands.

There was increased traffic and greater control over access in 2001. In 2002 the campsite at 36km was opened, with a $10 camping fee. There were daily patrols by the Pembertom RCMP. Despite their remoteness, the springs now have a somewhat commercial feel.

Geothermal power development is planned for the area in 2004. Western Goepower Corp has the geothermal rights and is planning more drilling this year, pending financing. Of course, this is controversial in the Pemberton Area (see Electricity Forum News).

(c) Toby Haynes, March 2004
桥断了，我们要走3公里进去，我觉得这也是好事情，这样在里面Camp就可以了，人会很少，可以尽情享受！