A Hot Adventure Traditional Cache
Moxyscott: The Hot Springs here are indefinitely closed to non-natives and there has been too much unwanted traffic in this area. This on-the-spot- DIY cache (and my first placement ever) stayed in remarkably good condition for 10 years! This place will always be close to my heart for many reasons but it's time to say goodbye. And in case you were wondering...geobuddy is N49!
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Size: 
(small)
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Skookumchuck Hot Springs, also known as T'sek and St. Agnes Well, has been my favourite go-to get-away since my first visit in 2009. Sadly, the hot springs remain closed indefinitely - please respect this and do not trespass. The cache is not in the campground but outside on private land with permission of the land owner - Robin Tretheway.
The Lillooet River Valley has several hot springs, getting progressively more and more sulfurous southwards from Meager Creek, which has hardly any sulfur smell at all, down to Harrison Hot Springs which is very sulfurous. There are three places in BC called Skookumchuck, the others being near Radium Hot Springs in the East Kootenay and at the outlet of Sechelt Inlet at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. Skookumchuck means "strong water" or "powerful water" in the Chinook Jargon. This hot spring takes its name from the rapids nearby, but the name might just as well refer to its spiritual potency referred to in local native culture, which in part helps account for why the Oblate missionaries coopted the site for religious purposes. There still remains a small community inhabited by members of the In-SHUCK-ch nation. At the small village, about 3km from the hot springs, there is a triple-spired Church of the Holy Cross, of native Catholic church design, reflective of the Franco-Belgian origin of many of the Oblate fathers. The smaller of the two cemeteries you will pass by on the way to the hot springs (if you drive in from the north) also displays French influences and is the location of GCWY7Q The End of the Road..for some. This trip the crew and I met up with my BFF and geo-buddy and his K9. This was BFF's first experience geocaching and geo-buddy's first visit to the hot springs. BFF got so excited about cache finding in this area that we decided we couldn’t leave without planting a very first cache of our own. I had an empty prescription container. She had duct tape. Add some strips of paper for a log, a gel pen, and a fancy quarter for swag and voilà: a geocontainer is created. You can do this without GPS. Just before the entrance of T’sek Hot Springs, stop well before the campground entrance where there is an overflow-parking area and a drive-through entrance created to access Robin's airstrip field for extra campers. Not sure how they compete with a landing aircraft...Sooo, as mentioned DO NOT ENTER THE HOTSPRINGS CAMPGROUND. Face the entrance to the campground (before entering), then turn around 180° and look for the foot trail just at the end of the overflow parking area. This is the original Douglas Road of 1858 – BC’s very first Highway. Your destination is the big boulder a few steps along it. The boulder has a quiet space with another rock nestled under it. Quiet enough to avoid muggles I hope. Further on past the boulder and the cache is the “estate” of the very friendly former caretaker Robin Trethewey http://hotspringlodge.blogspot.ca Container will fit teeny tradables. There’s a Thunderbird quarter for FTF. Congratulations to SamIam12 and BRDman7 for FTF (right after Robin). This is now a memorial cache to the co-CO (BFF) who sadly passed away in 2018 - please send me a message if this cache needs maintenance.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybat qrfpevcgvba - ernq vg!
Treasures
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