The May Long weekend loomed on the horizon, and we decided we should do something special to celebrate our three days off.

The Sloquet Hot Springs are a natural wonder and something of an untouched gem. The long distance from Vancouver - over 5 hours - and rough roads mean that the area doesn't get much attention. This in turn means that the springs are remarkably natural.

The drive up from Vancouver is long, but the scenery on the way is very pretty.

Getting into the mountains.

The whisky doubled as a G-force meter.

We saw a bunch of deer on the way up, including one that charged the truck kamikaze style. This one knew what was up though.

The roads up are very bumpy; an all-wheel drive car is recommended, but a lot of people make the trek in 2wd cars. A stranger's car lost its oil pan on the way up, which sounds rough.

The last 75km up is on a logging road, and the final 10km of that is on a very rough unmaintained road. The logging road is plowed in the winter, but the final 10km is left alone. We heard from people with heavy duty trucks that it's impossible to drive more than a few feet up in the winter; expect to snowshoe or snowmobile your way up if you're visiting in the winter.

The campsites are well laid out and very comfortable. We paid $15 per night per car, which works out to an incredible deal. For your $15 you get unlimited access to the hot springs, a campsite with fire pit, and outhouses. Some campsites even have benches and cooking grills.

We arrived at 11AM on a Saturday morning and claimed one of the last remaining campsites, but that may have been more because of the May long weekend holiday.

There's something incredibly satisfying about swinging an axe down on a cutting block. Here's hoping that's not just some latent psycopatheic tendencies.

The unusually wet start to the year meant that we could make fires without any worry. We brought our own wood, but you can buy a wheelbarrow full for $15.

Alecia made a huge dent in this book over the weekend, figuratively speaking. I'm sure she also got it a little dirty.

Fred and Alecia showing us what true campfire cooking looks like.

A lot of cribbage was played. I discovered I need to learn basic addition.

There was also a lot of hanging out.

And a lot of looking at trees.

There aren't any designated hiking trails, but the area is fun to explore and easy to navigate. There were signs are recent bear activity, so you don't want to be a complete idiot about it.

The hot springs are fed from a series of natural streams. These are really, really, really hot. I couldn't keep my hand under this stream for more than a second.

The hot springs themselves are really, really beautiful. The hot streams meet the freezing river below and pool into a series of natural baths. Each area is a different temperature, so you can go from chilly to charred and everything in between.

There's very little sign of human meddling. The only foreign object is a small changing area on the edge of the pools.

Tea candles and lamps are scattered among the rocks, and the springs look magical when the stars come out and the candles are lit.

The Sloquet hot springs are pretty incredible, and well worth the 6 hour drive. It's hard to believe that something like this can happen naturally, but nature can be pretty amazing. I'd love to know how many generations have dipped their toes into the water after a long hard day.

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