| The
Healing Waters of Harrison Hot Springs
By
Jack Kintner
The first European to discover the hot water spring on
the shores of southwestern B.C.’s biggest lake was
a miner who fell out of his canoe and into water warmed
by the spring while beaching his canoe in the gold rush
winter of 1859. He and his companions were exhausted, having
paddled south on the huge lake all day to get out of the
country during the coldest months of the winter. They were
headed to what would one day be New Westminster, still
two days away down the Fraser, and were stopping for the
night.
Though an unintended dip like that irs were in any kind
of shape to rescue him after paddling down a lake more than
twice the size of Seattle’s Lake Washington, and probably
against the wind. Imagine their surprise when instead of
crawling out on the beach, he simply squatted down in the
water and let out a long, satisfied sigh, really warm for
the first time in weeks,perhaps months.
A century and a half later people still do that at Harrison,
arrive tired and worn out, then find the hot water, squat
down and say “Aaahhhh!” The Harrison Hot Springs
Resort& Spa is one of Canada’s premier destination
resorts, and, as one would expect, provides a first-class
experience while not taking itself too seriously. Guests
in white bathrobes casually stroll through the lobby on their
way to one of there sort’s five mineral pools at all
hours of the day and night (indoor pools close at 11 p.m.
and reopen at 5 a.m.).
Dining ranges from the informal, perhaps a well-prepared
burger served in the bar as you watch a ball game on a wide
flat-screen TV,to the elegant: you can spend nearly $50 on
an eight ounce New York steak entrée in the Copper
Room,(and it’s the most delicious thing you’ve
ever had). Also recommended is their broiled marinated beef
tenderloin in a veal-red wine reduction, and, of course,
their prime rib.
The Copper Room brings back a little of the hotel’s
long heritage,something that stretches back over a century
to the first establishment,the three-story St. Alice Hotel
built in 1886 which burned in 1920.
The hotel owner also acquired the rights to the two hot
springs that supply the resorts pools, the 40 degree (120
f) Potash spring and the 65 degree (155 f) Sulphur spring.
In return for taking 200,000 gallons a day of mineral water
for the pools, the permit required the owners to provide
public access to the water.
The resort still owns and maintains the 70 by 20 foot public
mineral pool in the middle of the village, built in the 1860’s
and renovated since then. The resort pools are spotlessly
clean, so much so that many guests think that some of them
are just heated fresh water, but all are mineral water, cooled
enough to sit or swim in with fresh water from the lake.
Privacy and a wide variety of personal services are available
at the upscale Healing Springs Spa.
There’s not a diving board to be seen at the resort
because of legal restrictions having to do with the allowed
depth of a public pool when the water is above a certain
temperature. The point here is to soak your blues away, and
for that reason the hours are generous (5 a.m. until 11 p.m.),
children are not allowed in one of the outdoor pools and
none of them allow jumping off the edge;you get in sedately,
quietly and with dignity.
Kids aren’t forgotten, though, as there’s also
a water park with a couple of water cannons and timed waterfalls
and a tunnel leading to a playground. Older kids will head
for the beach at the lake, perhaps,or rent a sea-doo on the
pier in front of the hotel.
The pools are about the only amenity not available to people
who are not registered guests at the hotel. All the restaurants
and stores and lakefront rentals are open to the public,
including the Healing Springs Spa, built into a large hat-shaped
Pavilion building that also encloses the hottest mineral
pool (40 degrees, or 104 f) and the deepest,the eight foot
deep 30 degree (85 f)indoor lap pool. Outside, there’s
a33 degree (91 f) 4,000 square foot family pool, complete
with a tiled beach, a 1,000 square foot adult pool set to
35 degrees (91 f) and a square lap pool that’s maintained
at 30 degrees (85 f). The outdoor pools have shorter hours,
8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Harrison is more than the resort,of course. It’s got
world class fishing, vigorous runs of several kinds of salmon
and a fall concentration of thousands upon thousands of eagles.
To get there from Vancouver, take the Trans-Canada Highway
(Hwy 1), on the south side of the Fraser River, to the Agassiz-Harrison
turnoff(exit 135) & follow signs north on Hwy 9. From
Seattle, take I -5 to exit 255 in Bellingham, Hwy 542 east
to Hwy 9, then north to the Sumas border crossing, then head
east on the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1) to exit 135 & follow
signs. More info at www.harrisonresort.com. |
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