Soak It In Harrison Hot Springs Rejuvenates Body And Soul Of Visitors

Early Indians called the strange springs at Harrison Lake “medicine waters.” Believed to be sent by supernatural beings dwelling in the hot world below, the waters were said to bestow powers of endurance upon those who drank them.

Legends of the healing waters still thrive at this once-funky lakeside village that today boasts cosmopolitan restaurants, rows of mod concrete condos and an ever-expanding international resort called Harrison Hot Springs Hotel.

Locals say one Seattle doctor comes to soak in the hotel’s mineral pools each year. Crippled by arthritis, he always arrives in a wheelchair, they report, and he always leaves on foot.

Or so the story goes.

I was willing to believe anything the first time I slipped into the hotel’s mineral pools, with waters piped in from those supernatural springs.

The hot, soft water enveloped me like a sigh.

I’ve always been a sinker, but in this velvety medium of sulfur, salts and other minerals, I floated like a leaf, eyes closed, mmmmmmm-ing to my weightless self.

I needed to de-stress. I had a bad case of G.S.T. (Goods and Services Tax) shock. I always forget about the walloping Canadian taxes added to hotel bills when I budget vacations in the near north. Suddenly our big-bargain midweek package of $448 Canadian was bulking up to $515 with taxes. In U.S. dollars, that was $396.

Our room was a stunner, though. Beds, furniture, showers were standard: nice, clean, unremarkable. But the view! Out the window was a picture-postcard look at snowy Cascade peaks, their avalanche chutes reaching down like witches’ fingers. And below, reflecting these beauties, was the misty 45-mile-long Harrison Lake, the largest in Southwestern British Columbia and one of the most mysterious.

It, too, inspires endless legends.

Believers swear the lake has its own Loch Ness monster - a snakelike critter estimated at 50 feet long. In nearby woods, they say, live the shaggy-maned, 8-feet-tall humanoids known as Harrison Sasquatches. And in one of the lake’s bays dwells a one-eyed stone image known by locals as “The Doctor.” Indians still throw gifts of food to please his spirit, and tourists throw nickels and dimes. If he is displeased with passing humans, he casts a spell on them with his evil eye.

Or so the story goes.

Our three-night package for two included bountiful breakfasts at the Lakeside Terrace and several dinners in the hotel’s elegant Copper Room, where rug-cutting seniors dipped and swirled to big-band renditions of “Danke Schoen” and other yesteryear hits.

Table d’hote menus included a crisp European salad, solid entrees such as Shrimp Mornay, Mushroom Ragout and prime rib, dessert and coffee/tea. Our daughter’s meals weren’t included, but the kids’ menu was a bargain.

She also loved the hotel’s complimentary afternoon tea, with little cookies and fruitcakes. I preferred the lobby’s espresso cafe, where a single-tall latte ran $2.73 Canadian.

Included in our package were discounts on the Oak Tree Golf Course, a nine-hole PGA-rated course (open March-November), and massages at the hotel’s Health Pavilion. I went for the bargain massage. A half-hour session cost about $20 U.S. and left me purring and deliciously limp.

The resort has been extensively remodeled over the past few years. Owners have spent $6 million redoing its 300-plus rooms, restaurants and lobbies. New outside is a children’s water park and 6,000 square feet of outdoor hot springs pools.

A badly needed revamp of the two indoor pools is finally completed. One is an 18-foot diameter soaking tub, heated to 100 to 104 degrees; the other, an 18-by-50-foot, curved mineral pool at 90 degrees. Saunas and showers also are spiffed up, as is the big outdoor heated pool.

The resort draws 180,000 visitors annually, many of them during the World Championship Sand Sculpture Competition each September. This year’s competition concluded a week ago, but sculptures remain up through Oct. 6, weather permitting.

Activities are plentiful around the tiny town. Visitors enjoy hikes along the lakefront, and splashing in the dredged-out swimming lagoon at the beach. Fishing for lake sturgeon is big-time business; so are boating, biking, windsurfing and parasailing during summer months.

Shopping in the area is spare. The hotel has two gift shops, and a nearby mini-mall offers a few books, New Age trinkets, handmade candy and select clothes. Italian, French, Swiss, German and Japanese restaurants are nearby, as are numerous pubs, cafes, pizza and burger joints.

The Harrison Hot Springs Hotel’s two mineral pools are open 24 hours a day to registered guests. It’s the only hotel here with on-site pools. But it isn’t the only gig in town. Budget travelers can check into one of the cheaper lakeside motels and soak at the large public pool in the center of downtown. It also pipes in waters from the hot springs; admission is $7 adults, $5 children/ seniors.

The Harrison Hot Springs Hotel offers a number of special packages and rates, all prices in Canadian. They include a $114-a-night room (off-season $104) in the remodeled older wing and a $145-a-night room (off-season $124) in the newer west wings. Seniors can get super deals. Information: (800) 663-2266.

Callers need to know to ask for discounts. And, once they arrive, they should also ask for complimentary bathrobes. Big, white and fluffy, they’re perfect for poolside. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Ask too, for directions to the mineral-water drinking fountain near the lobby. Water is piped directly from the nearby hot springs into this fountain, where the faithful line up to fill bottles.

The taste is warm, flat, earthy.

But every day I drank it - just in case those early Indians were right about the powers of the “medicine waters.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Directions: Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, is located 50 miles east of Vancouver. From Seattle, take Interstate 5 north to Bellingham, then state Route 539 east to Lynden and Sumas. Cross the border at Sumas and go east on the Trans Canada Highway to the Agassiz-Harrison turnoff beyond Chilliwack. Accommodations: Harrison Hot Springs has a number of motels, hotels and RV parks, with rates starting as low as $25 Canadian. For information, call the town’s Chamber of Commerce at (604) 796-3425. What to do: Day-trippers can have a field day around Harrison Hot Springs. In season, skiers can hit the slopes at Hemlock Valley Ski and Recreation Area, 23 miles away. Anglers report the nearby Harrison River has large runs of steelhead, coho and sockeye; it’s also a popular river-rafting site. Birders will want to hit Harrison Mills, gathering spot for bald eagles from November to April. Eleven miles from the hot springs are the 27-acre Minter Gardens, open in April. One hour east is Hell’s Gate, with trams carrying visitors across the narrowest part of the breathtaking Fraser Canyon. Within a half-hour’s drive are four new golf courses, including a well-reviewed Falls Golf and Country Club course. During low-water months in early fall, rockhounds may score jade and other precious stones at the Fraser River between Agassiz and Hope.