This weekend we ventured out on one of the best trips of the year. We traveled northwest to the Arizona Hot Springs! We left early Saturday morning, around 8:15am, to begin the 4 hour drive to the Ring Bolt Hot Springs (AZ Hot Springs). Before arriving at the hot springs we were lucky enough to stop at the famous Hoover Dam! The boys were excited to walk across the top of the dam and look at this incredible American architectural feat. We heard that 13 men lost their lives during the construction of the massive dam, this newfound knowledge gave us a new appreciation for the 13 palm trees planted in their memory, which we saw a few minutes later. The boys had fun appreciating all the scenery and posing for pictures on top of the wall. After about an hour on the dam, we left and headed 10 minutes in the direction we had come earlier. Once we arrived at the parking lot by the trailhead, we unloaded the vans and began the three mile hike towards the Colorado river and surrounding hot springs. The hike was really interesting, the hiking path had us snaking through a wash in a slot canyon. As we came to the end of the trail, the canyon opened up revealing the vibrant bluish-green colors of the Colorado river. What an incredible sight! Next, we set up our camp in a sandy cove away from the public. After tents and sleep spaces had been established, we took an hour to hold a Sharing is Caring group, listening and providing honest and supportive feedback to each other. A quick 30 minute dinner was next, followed by an AA meeting on isolation and loneliness, there was a lot of raw emotion exhibited during this meeting. After the meeting, we hiked 5 minutes to the hot springs. This was a really neat place. The beginning of the hot springs had an iron ladder going straight up, next to the iron rungs a cascade of water was crashing down the right side of it. It was like a scene out of the 80’s classic, The Goonies. At the top of the ladder was the first hot spring pool. The water here was lukewarm so the boys moved onto the next two pools, each consecutive pool increased significantly in temperature. The guys relaxed in the water for an hour, soaking their sore-achey muscles and having relaxed conversations amongst ourselves. Finally, the boys retired to their tents to enjoy a well earned rest, preparing mind and body for the adventures of the upcoming day.
We were awoken at about seven the next morning. We ate breakfast and then decided to embark on a short trek in search of a quiet place to hold an AA meeting. We went about a quarter mile past the hot springs and ended up setting it upon a high peak. The scenery was jaw droppingly gorgeous. We held the meeting on a higher power and shared ideas on what each of us saw as our own. We then split into two groups, those of us that wanted to continue hiking and then those of us that wanted to relax in the hot springs. You can probably guess what a majority of us did. After the hot springs and hiking were accomplished we rondevoux back at camp, there was much rejoicing as the team came back together and good conversation was had by all. We then decided to go cliff jumping, cliff jumping is a bit of a stretch because these cliffs were not even ten feet high. One of the boys hit a triple backflip at one point, it was quite impressive. We then decided to hold community back at camp, this is when everyone reviews
their weekend, the good, bad, and affirmations. We try and keep it positive. After this was accomplished we all made dinner for ourselves. We took one last trip to the hot springs that night, some of us even partook in the polar dip. A polar dip you may ask? This is when we would run from the hot springs into the freezing colorado river back into the hot springs. During this event we almost caught a second dinner, alas the fish slipped through our fingers at the last moment. Shortly after this we all went back to our tents to get some much needed sleep for we had to wake up at five am that coming morning. The next morning we all packed up and started our sluggish journey back to the vans. This took about two hours but eventually we made it. All together it was a fantastic weekend and could not have asked for a better time.
