Vanlife camping at hot springs
(music) where the wild things roll where the wild things where the wild things roll where the wild things oh where the wild things roll well I made it to my campsite just in time for the sun to go down and it's a good stopover just for one night uh it's going to be very very quiet but I'm so glad I made it before dark i don't think I'd want to pull in here uh at dark but yeah sun's just about to go down over here i thought there'd be some wild flowers blooming but I don't see any maybe I'm too early or maybe it's just too dry hey I hope everyone is doing well if you're new here my name is Lisa and I've been living in my camper van for about 4 years now i'm Canadian and I just spent my winter in California mainly to surf and mountain bike and now I'm headed back to Canada where I'll spend my summer i'm going to be zigzagging uh as I drive up to Canada to see friends and take part in some adventures that I already have planned it's been bittersweet leaving California but I've got lots to look forward to this summer so this is day one on the road and I'm just going to get settled in for the night on a quick little stopover yeah it's a pretty beautiful spot it's going to be very very quiet um but look at this guys my surfboard is leaking water and so I had it flipped upside down there's like a problem with a fin box that's on the top for my back rest so the whole drive it was really hot in here i had my board upside down on my bed and I had a towel under it and I just hung the towel out to dry right there on my door because it is so heavy the towel was completely soaked with water um which means there's probably still a lot more water in my board might take a while to uh drain it out i'm gonna have to wait until I'm back in Canada in one spot and find a surf shop hopefully and get it all fixed up there but no wonder I felt so slow out there on the waves i was carrying around an extra 15 pounds of water in my board what can you do okay do you ever get those moments where you're just so tired and kind of cranky and all you want to do is go to bed or relax um but stuff keeps happening like things keep breaking or falling apart well that just happened to me right now my drawer broke and I had to fix that and then my plastic forks box fell out of my cabinet spilled everywhere in my sink think thankfully it was just in my sink they're all contained and then I went to move this bag and all the confetti that was in the bag from my birthday fell on the floor and now I got to clean it up when I just want to go to bed i think I just need to like stop doing things and go to bed because it's not turning out to be my night you have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy a good sleep tonight i've been looking forward to it all day as I was getting ready for bed I noticed that my feet are actually really swollen and that's um because it's very warm here my feet tend to swell up and just generally the circulation to my feet and legs isn't good because I'm sitting all day long i'm not moving around and moving my legs so um temperatures are supposed to be really hot for the rest of the week so I'm going to try and get on top of that but I hope there's no people that are enjoying this foot video right now because that's not the intention at all I used to be really embarrassed and kind of ashamed of stuff like that but now I'm getting so used to sharing all about that spinal cord injury is like so you're going to get it all on this channel anyways that's it for me tonight uh I'm looking forward to a good rest see you in the morning well here comes the sun out my very dirty back window oh it's going to be a really really hot day like 25 26° C so definitely getting ready for summer here I have about a 4-hour drive ahead of me i'm going to go meet some friends because we're going to check out a hot springs we're going to camp and I'm actually going to do a comparison so this one that we're going to tonight is actually developed it's a campground and they have each spot has private um hot springs and they've recently made one that's accessible so I'm going to go there and then later on my trip I am going to go check out a completely natural hot springs it's undeveloped it's just on public lands and it happens to be quasi accessible uh I've been there before i can make it work but I just want to see what the difference is between the two and which one I prefer this camp spot has been great though it has been so quiet uh perfect spot um just for a one night little stopover and I'm excited to continue the journey and keep driving north to combat the swelling that happens in my feet with these uh higher temperatures warmer days um yeah I found a solution and thank goodness uh I'm not a fashion model because I would not be winning any contest right now check this out it's so warm out i've got shorts on but I'm wearing compression socks as well that should help keep the swelling down in my feet as I drive but yeah it doesn't really go with the shorts i'm just going to be driving nobody's going to see me but hey you got to do what you got to do when you have a spinal cord injury I'd much rather just keep my body happier and not worry so much about what I look like (music)but if you're looking you'll see plenty around it's in the background and out in plain sight good things happen all the time all right I've just arrived at Benton Hot Springs with my friends Devon and Maggie you can see we got two of our vans here there's probably room for a third vehicle but this is an accessible hot springs uh camp site so you can reserve a site and they have a new um pool that is pretty accessible it's got a ramp into the water if you need it and a ramp up all around uh I think what I'll do is just transfer onto this ledge and then go directly into the water but there's a picnic table and then right over there is a bathroom situation it's a little sandy to push around but I can still do it in my manual wheelchair we have a day what it's warm today oh yeah and it's what 22° C right now so I managed to pick some nice weather but I'm very much looking forward to uh stargazing from the hot tub from the hot springs tonight and it's very peaceful out here feel very private i think there's are there 10 pools i think about 15 i think there's about 15 hot springs like this with a little campsite at each one and one is accessible but you reserve it you have it all to yourself and is this water is very clean they sanitize it drain it and sanitize it every single checkout so you know it's going to be nice and clean and there's two faucets right there where you can adjust the water temperature by adding more water so since this site is intended for people with mobility issues um if you have a mobility issue you can book it far in advance within 30 days uh they actually open bookings up to general public so then anyone can book it but uh you can reserve it in advance if you do have a mobility issue there's our campsite and then just over here is the bathroom there is a parking spot an accessible parking spot at the bathroom um it's a little soft here and a little bit uphill so I think um a quad in a manual chair would probably uh maybe need some help unless they had an electric assist on their chair but let's go look at the bathrooms it's a pretty gradual ramp to get up to the accessible one and then there are two regular stalls over here it's a bit of a heavy door no door opener a little like 2-in lip there and then here's the bathroom there is actually a bedet and I think it's a heated seat and everything um but yeah I was able to use it without any problems lots of room in here there are no shower facilities here though pretty cool vibes here at night and check it out there's even a full moon yeah so we had a really good night last night i uh soaked in the hot springs and the stars were out in full force even saw a shooting star which was really really nice uh just yeah just sat around and enjoyed the company talked a lot in the hot springs and I didn't film anything because I was just enjoying the company and the good vibes and now it's morning and I'm just getting ready for the day all right so Devon and Maggie are taking off and I'm going to go do my own thing for the day i'm actually going to go check out a natural hot springs that's not commercial one of the reasons I am doing my own thing today is cuz it's going to be really hot in the area so I don't handle hot weather very well i don't sweat because of my spinal cord injury so I am headed up here into some elevation so hopefully it's going to be a lot cooler today where I am yeah I'm really getting some good elevation now and there I've seen some side roads that have probably some good dispersed camping in the trees but I kind of got my heart set on a hot springs this is such a good view just coming over this ridge and man there's still a lot of snow all right I have arrived at my spot for the night and just outside my van there's a hot springs and it's accessible to get there and I will be able to transfer into that with very little problem it'll be some effort but it's very manageable and then out this window got the view of the mountains i did stay here last year with Devon and Maggie we had a campfire you're allowed to free camp here it's public land uh but I want to compare what it's like now after being in a commercial campground with the hot springs and then now what it's like to have this and I think it all depends on uh if other people show up how comfortable you feel with uh other people uh unlike a private hot springs where you have it all to yourself so we'll see a.m it's like 1:00 in the afternoon so it's the hottest part of the day right now so I'll start filling it with the hot water and have it all ready hopefully for sunset and then maybe do some stargazing tonight i would say this view is a little nicer than the one at Benton Hot Springs it's kind of cool that everything is wide open and so you really feel like the vastness of the area that I'm in right now but it's pretty special to be here for sure it's a little after 6 and the sun's starting to set a little bit it's not going to be long before it's behind the mountain so I'm going to go try and get a little soak in yay just as I was getting out of my van two people showed up and they went in the hot springs i'm sure they're cool and uh I'm going to still go out there and if they are cool maybe I'll even ask if they can film me as I get in so you can see how I transfer into the hot springs i'm putting some padding down i've got a foam pad under here and a yoga mat and it's not completely level but my wheelchair is able to get close enough that's where the sun will be setting this hot springs is very rare to find that I can actually just wheel right up and get close enough to the edge to get in easily it's easier to get in because gravity takes care of everything i did take a little bit of a slip there it was a little harder than I had planned but luckily I had that cushion under me the cushion will also help protect my skin which is another major concern i'm always making sure I'm avoiding getting nicks or cuts or any sort of bruises on my lower body because I couldn't feel it if it did happen so I take these precautions with the cushions thank you [Music] [Music] he said "You don't mean anything like a day laterally 400 Marines surprise." So I think this is great go running you don't have to worry about my focus on me or the sunset what do you want whichever's pretty orange in the background why would you see the colors i just got out of the hot tub it was probably a 2hour long soak and it was nice because the water wasn't too hot i wasn't getting overheated and about seven or eight people kind of rotated through the hot tub as I was in there and it was just really neat to meet different people and we had a lot of neat conversations um there was an astrophysicist an astronomer a paramedic search and rescue guys so and then a bunch of high school students actually were running around the area and then they came for a soak after their cross country run so uh we talked about all kinds of things and so I think that's probably one of my favorite things about doing this type of hot springs as a solo traveler is you'll meet people right versus uh the hot tub that I was at last night where you book it um and you just have it to yourselves you're not going to interact and meet new interesting people so I would say pros that that's the biggest pro for like a public land uh free-for-all hot springs like that cons for this type of hot springs um it was definitely a little grimier than uh the one I was at last night um I think it varies uh uh basically on what hot you go to and I think some people just do volunteer and will drain out a a hotspring if they're camping there um and then so that was a bit of a con i felt I feel like yeah I want to do a rinse off i'm going to rinse off with my uh outdoor shower whereas last night the water was so clean and so pristine uh I felt like yeah it just I didn't mind if I got my hair wet or something like that so another con with this type of hot springs is that they can get really busy and then uh you know you might not feel comfortable being crammed into a small uh soaking hot springs with a bunch of other people you might not know or you might show up and there just isn't room so that's one of the cons whereas when you book something like what we were at last night you uh you know it's all yours you have the place to yourself so for me going forward I think if I can find more of these accessible natural hot springs that aren't developed as a solo traveler they're great but if I just want to hang out with friends and sit in a hot springs then I think the way to go is to book it at a commercial spot that way you're guaranteed that that spot is yours you won't be waiting in line or in a rotation or feeling like you're butdding in on other people if they're in a hot springs and it was a lot cleaner so overall though I mean great experiences at both hot springs i had one final thought before I close out the video and that's the topic of nudity so you guys are thinking "What you got free foot videos today now we're talking about nudity what is happening to this channel?" But in all seriousness so nudity would be acceptable at both the private um hot springs that you book or the public lands one that you uh just show up at so that is something to consider whether the company you are with um is comfortable with it whether you're comfortable with going nude um maybe you're more comfortable being nude in front of people you don't even know um or yeah just maybe you want to just have a your own little private party at a private campground in Hot Springs that's cool too i personally have gar nude at both uh hot springs and it was really really liberating and uh just not even having to deal with getting out of a wet bathing suit at the end of the night really uh was really nice and saved me a little bit of effort and hassle so yeah that's one more thing to consider anyways I'm going to close it out so I hope you guys enjoyed coming along to a couple different hot springs with me and uh if you want to see more on my channel I've got lots of adventures coming up so don't forget to like comment and subscribe see you on the road
2025-05-10 16:05
