Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

We got in enough miles yesterday that today is allowed to be pretty mellow hiking day. Mostly downhill, gradual descent. The morning is hot and sunny though, making for sweaty hiking. This side of the mountains is much drier than what we've been going over previously, so our snow worries should be over. Hallelujah!

As the morning wears on, we get some nice views of the Arkansas River valley, and in the early afternoon, we found a random deer carcass left by a hunter next to the trail. EW.

There are more trail registers in this part of the CT. Through careful scrutiny of said registries, we've counted only 2 thru-hikers ahead of us. That plus the 3 plus 1 biker behind us makes only 8 of us total; we're part of an exclusive club!

We arrived at Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort at about 4 pm, and, holy cow, is this place different from when we were here several years ago. It has grown hugely (website here), it has cabins, the main lodge has been remodeled, and they've added new pools. As we were hiking in, we went past a building that we thought looked like a shabby roadside motel. We ended up staying in the shabby roadside motel, and we opened the door to a 5-star hotel room; vaulted ceilings, patio, great beds, really nice. Joyce at the front desk was terribly sweet, and even got us some laundry soap so we could clean up our stuff a little. Janelle and Nathan even sent us swim suits, so we could go for a soak! The creekside pools were closed due to massive spring runoff (apparently, they couldn't find the pools), which was disappointing, but understandable. We relaxed all evening, vegging out by watching Wall-e again. It was a highly successful evening.

kim