Solar Eclipse and Bagby Hot Springs

---

We were all very worried about the predicted apocalyptic traffic before and after the eclipse, on top of the usual morning rush hour traffic. Portland hadn't seemed crowded while we there so I'm not sure where all the "added millions of people" were hiding. Just in case, we still got up early. My dad wanted us all to be in the "path of totality." He and my stepmom (and now my daughter) were all camping in their RV in Albany. I didn't want to risk going so far and then back with all the crazy traffic AND a toddler. So we agreed to meet in the middle. Woodburn had a large park with a playground and was reportedly allowing eclipse viewing according to the internet (and a bbq I never actually saw happen).

David and Cory were up first sometime well before 5am and out the door. I rolled out of bed around 4:45am because I had spontaneously woken up and a shower sounded glorious. Galen, Carleigh and Anna packed up all their belongings and loaded them into Galen's car- they'd be doing the long drive back to California immediately after the eclipse. We left Portland at 5:30am, and the GPS estimated about a 45min drive. All told, it was about 1.5hrs before we made it to Woodburn. Still in plenty of time, and the traffic no worse than light morning rush hour in the Bay Area. I'm sure it got worse the later it got but we had no issues ourselves. My parents had parked their RV at the nearby middle school. They had arrived at 4am and the gates of Centennial Park were still locked. However, they were open when we arrived and we parked. Then we found David and Cory on one of the fields and set up our picnic spot. David and I walked over to the RV to get more chairs and supplies, Arya was still dead asleep. She actually stayed asleep until 9am. I think my parents must have kept her up late.

We ate our breakfast- I had shopped for bagels, cream cheese, salmon lox and capers along with fruit and mimosas. We lounged around, some of us napping, others reading. Eventually Arya woke up and we played on the playground with her. My dad joined us on the field while my stepmom stayed back at the RV with their dogs. Around 9:15am the eclipse started, and you could see a little nubbin covering the sun slowly but steadily growing bigger and bigger over the next hour. Through our solar eclipse glasses of course. We bought ours online a few weeks before.

The solar eclipse was absolutely amazing to see. I had worried we'd all made this pilgrimage and either it would be cloudy or not as incredible as we'd thought. The solar system proved me wrong. It was an absolutely clear sky all morning. Ten minutes to totality the shadows were long, the light was dim and it was noticeably colder. It all felt wrong for the time of day. I could imagine how peoples centuries ago would have been terrified by this event. We kept excitedly checking the sun through our glasses every couple minutes, aware we weren't supposed to stare at the sun too long even through the glasses but not wanting to miss a thing. Finally, the sun winked out, and it got very dark. It wasn't pitch black, though. My camera was terrible at catching the darkness because it's smart enough to adjust for the lighting. But it was definitely dark, as if the sun had just set. Hundreds of people cheered and howled like wolves for the moon overtaking the sun. My toddler says, "uh oh, sun gone." The entire event was barely two minutes. I tried taking pictures but I just wasn't able to (my sister got some great shots, though). We could see the eclipse itself without glasses at this point and I can't stress enough how phenomenal it was. The bright corona of the sun with a black moon covering. It was such an unusual and extraordinary thing to witness, and I would absolutely do it again (we heard there's another solar eclipse in Vermont in 2024). Then the moon moved out of the way, and it became lighter and warmer again.

Half of the crowd began to pack up and leave. Galen, Carleigh and Anna loaded into their car and left for home. We helped my dad carry chairs and blankets back to the RV. Then we said our goodbyes and headed out as well but we decided to go in the opposite direction of everyone else! We passed by traffic and congestion on all roads heading north, south and west. Roads heading east were clear, which is thankfully where we were headed for the most part. There were a couple points we got stuck barely moving when we had to briefly head in a northern direction. David and Cory were spending the day with us and they were willing to go to Bagby Hot Springs with us. Sometime close to 1:30pm we made it to Entacada. We were all starving by then so we stopped at a local burger place called Lew's Drive In. The staff were overwhelmed by the all people on a normally quiet weekday so it took a long time to order food. Unfortunately, some of the other customers were rude and didn't know how to wait their turn in line. But when the food came, the burgers and tater tots were delicious. I had walked down the street to a cafe and picked us all up much needed coffee while we waited for David and Cory's burgers. After eating, we left their car in Entacada, and just took one car the rest of the way to Bagby Hot Springs. The drive there on out was beautiful. I'd love to explore the Mt. Hood area more at some point. We drove along a beautiful river until we reached the small camp store where we purchased our $5/person wristbands for the springs.

Bagby Hot Springs is absolutely beautiful. Man, I wish I'd had more time! We parked the car at the trailhead and started our 1.5mi hike. We passed all manner of folks heading away from the springs. I'd heard many not so pleasant things- people were naked in public areas (it's allowed in the private areas), people on drugs, long lines, garbage everywhere. We didn't encounter any of that. When I was reading the memoir Wild, Cheryl Strayed had made a late night trip out to Bagby. It sounded so amazing that I had really wanted to visit it myself, especially when I realized how close it was to Portland (only a 2hr drive). I carried Arya on my back in the wearable carrier again. It was well past her nap time so I knew she would have refused to walk. It's ok because I needed to practice for backpacking in two weeks (we're doing a rim to rim trek at the Grand Canyon). We hiked along a very well maintained trail under giant trees along a river. Eventually we came to another bridge that stretched over an amazing looking swimming hole with a waterfall. Had we been there earlier during the hotter part of the day, I definitely would have stayed to swim there.

Just past that bridge were the Hot Springs. We weren't quite sure on the etiquette of the place and just walked around at first. There were four or five wooden structures. The first few seemed to be day use cabin-like places. Like maybe somewhere to hang out during the winter when you weren't in the hot springs. I walked over to where the tubs were. There was one structure for private log tubs, most of which appeared to be in use. Then there was a second structure with large, round shared tubs. Also all in use. I asked the guys there how the etiquette worked. And they explained that we just wait for a tub to open up, or someone willing to share, and then fill up the tub. You can drain the water already in it, scrub it with a brush and refill it (which takes a long time). You have to stay clothed in the public areas but in the private stalls with the log tubs you're allowed to get as naked as you want.

A private log bath opened up first so Chris and I set to work filling it. Omg, it took FOREVER. Mostly because the water chute leaked so I had to fenangle it divert water back into the tub. I used the scrub brush to clog the drain (it had a rubber attachment that made it seem like that was its purpose). After a half hour of filling it with the hot water from the springs, and Chris bringing in buckets of cold water, it was finally full enough to get in. HOLY HELL IS THAT WATER SCALDING HOT! Cory helped us add another bucket of cold water and in we went. It was still too warm for Arya so I didn't let her in. But she played on the side. We took pictures and relaxed ten minutes or so before we swapped with Cory and David so they could jump in. I wandered back towards the larger public tubs wondering if I could get a picture of them. One of large baths happened to free up so Arya and I jumped in. I didn't bother emptying the water out because I knew it would take forever. The previous couple hadn't been in for very long, though, and the water didn't look that dirty. So I figured it was fine. Chris soon joined, too. David and Cory weren't in the log tub very long and then wandered over to take pictures for us.

After that we dried off and hiked back to our car. Such an awesome stop at Bagby- I was so glad we made it. I thought for sure I was screwed this trip when it didn't happen the day before. Arya passed out in the baby carrier on the way back to the car. I don't think she actually slept on the drive back so it made for a cranky dinner out. We ended up picking a random Italian food place that turned out to be pretty good. And thankfully didn't mind that we had a monster toddler with us. I had originally planned to go out drinking with David and Cory after dinner but I was utterly exhausted by the time we finished eating. So I opted out and just headed back to the house with Chris and Arya. I enjoyed my quiet glass of wine before crawling in to bed. Absolutely a freaking wonderful day!

---

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Looks like a great party
Sorry we missed it but loved your blog. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

[tinyisgreat]

Thank you!!
=D