As soon as I sink into the warm water, a lassitude suffuses me. The trees tower far over my head, the water caresses the rocks under my skin. Green moss and fern reaches all around me, blunting the last traces of daylight into a surreal gloaming. The water cascades down the worked rock wall behind me, small warm droplets pattering my hair and face like tiny pixie kisses. I close my eyes and welcome the warmth as it seeps into my body.
This day has ended in a gentle shush, the daylight fading from the sky over us at Cougar Hot Springs, just east of Eugene. The parking area is several miles off the main highway, mostly paved. The Park fee is five dollars per person. Once parked, it is a calming stroll through the towering trees to reach the springs. The water issues from a small cave, just roomy enough to admit one person, slithering in through the warm mud. Once the water flows out of the cave, it gathers in an upper pool, deep enough to sit in. Then it falls down a rock wall some cunning mason has fitted together without mortal, and collects in another pool. Four pools in all are made this way, and the second one is most comfortable for long soaks. So, none of them are too hot to enjoy.
There is a wooden roof on supports sheltering some stone benches. Shelves set in the mountainside provide a place to rest your clothing, for this delightful place is officially clothing optional. Lewd behaviour is specifically denounced as well. Wooden railings guard the rock steps down to the pools, worn smooth under the hand by countless bathers.
The park officially closes at sundown, and the parking lot is supposed to be cleared. We arrive just as the sun lowered itself over the forested mountains cupping this eden, so technically too late. A quick glance around the group? Hot springs are better at night, anyways. Hopefully the worst we can expect will be a scolding, if a park ranger chooses to investigate on this night.
The pools are warm and inviting, the night blessedly still. We bathe and lounge in peace and joy. Eventually, the small tealights come out, flame held to wicks eagerly kindling. The candles flicker and reach out to gild the edges of our features. The steam rising from the hot pools swirls up against this glow, suffusing the pool with a gentle feeling of mysticism.
I bask on the rocks along the bottom of the pool, my skin awash with the lapping of others movements. I peer with heavy lids through the dancing candlelight and steam, watching the soft movements of my friends, my Tribe.
Wherever you are, Be There 