Month: August 2025

Saturday was a day at camp. There had been a bit of shower activity during the night and we had laundry to do as well. Two loads of laundry and $22.50 poorer, that chore was done. Time to catch up on reading and Paul took a little bicycle ride from the campground.

On Sunday we decided to try a bicycle trail we had found. Called the Marken-MacPhail Westside Legacy trail, it is a paved, 24 km trail between Fairmont Hot Springs and Invermere. We drove to the south end near Fairmont Hot Springs and headed out for a ride. This trail, although paved, is not like the rail trails we often ride. Although it followed the road for much of it, it had a lot of rolling hills. We rode a total of 26 km round trip. It was a pleasant afternoon.

After stopping for a few groceries, we headed to the trailer for supper. The plan was a trip back to Fairmont Hot Springs for a dip in the pool. Although we had a heavy rain shower along with a bit of a thunderstorm when it was time to leave. We checked radar and it looked like the storm would stay north so we decided to head out.

Other than the lineup of people to get in (the pool had been cleared because they had had a thunderstorm too), and how crowded the pool was (due to the long weekend), we enjoyed these springs better than Radium. The temperature of the hot pool was a bit cooler than at Radium which made it more enjoyable.

We decided to have an early supper and make a trip up the highway to Radium Hot Springs.

There are two pools at Radium – the hot one which ranges 102-104 degrees F and then the other which is around 84 degrees F. Sue to the heat wave the hot pool was more like 104 so our time in it was for shorter periods.

We stayed until nearly dark and were treated to a bit of colour on the way home.

Friday morning we woke to a nice day so after making an omelette and doing dishes, we made sandwiches and packed some drinks and our bathing suits and took off for a drive back south.

Our destination was Lussier Hot Springs in Whiteswan Provincial Park. After a half hour drive south on the highway, we had a 22 km drive on a gravel forest service road.

We got to the hot springs and got out to check things out. There was a 5 minute downhill walk to get to the hot springs. Paul went down to check it out. He returned with the news there were a couple of problems. One was the horse flies that were biting. There was no shade and the way to get in the pool would be difficult for Joyce. We decided to have lunch and then we headed on to the developed part of the park. The park has two small mountain lakes.

We stopped at the smaller one where there was a couple with a dog at a small pebble beach. Joyce decided to swim; Paul felt it was too cold. There were also lots of people on stand up paddle boards and some jumping from cliffs on the other side of the lake.

By this time it was after 4 so we headed to the natural hot springs again.

With some help navigating the big rocks, Joyce managed to get into the springs. Depending where you sit in the springs, the water temperature is different. The higher up you are from the river, the warmer it gets. Some areas along the river are actually quite cool.

By 6 pm we headed back out the 22 km gravel road and up the highway to our campsite for supper. We’re heading into a couple of cloudy days over the weekend so we might have a bit of down time.