Day 9: Rest Day in La Grande

September 14, 2023

Today is a rest day in La Grande. I have my car and planned in advance to drive to Hideaway Creek hot spring in the Blue mountains. I had never been there before. It's not likely to be crowded on a Thursday morning.

I drove away from the motel at 8:30 AM. The hot spring is a 48 mile drive from La Grande, the last 6 miles on a gravel Forest Road. Then a 500 foot walk down an unmarked steep slope to the hot pool. The pool was still in full shade when I arrived at 9:30. My probe thermometer showed 42F air temperature and 95F water temperature. The pool started to get in sunshine a few minutes later, rapidly warming the air and slowly warming the water.

Hideaway Creek hot spring in morning shade.

I had the place to myself for an hour before two bow hunters showed up to have a bath. We had an interesting conversation for an hour, then they left to continue hunting. I soaked alone for an hour afterwards. The area is very quiet and peaceful. No traffic going by on the gravel forest road.

Hideaway Creek hot spring is well known in the La Grande area but is not mentioned in hot spring guidebooks. I have made a hobby out of visiting natural hot springs over the last 30 years. My Hot Springs photo collection has 122 folders, each of a different hot spring.

Hot water percolates into the soaking pool through the gravel bottom. The pool is about 12 feet diameter and 1 to 2 feet deep. It's mildly sulfury and has a high pH that gives the water a slippery soapy feel. The water is extremely clear when nobody stirs up the silt. Fortunately the silt mostly sinks below the pebble bottom. The bow hunters said the pool is seldom this clear because kids usually move around constantly and stir up the silt.

A different hot seep feeds a smaller and shallower soaking pool 50 feet upstream. It's not as warm as the main pool. The pools are just a few steps away from tiny Hideaway creek. It had a small flow but is not deep enough to be a cold plunge this time of year.

Very clear water if you don't stir up the silt at the bottom.

The water temperature was 99F and rising when I got out soon after noon. The air temperature was 70F and rising. I'm told the water peaks at 104F on a warm sunny afternoon.

Two teenage boys arrived just as I took one final photo on the way out. Good timing-I was fully dressed and packed to leave. The old bow hunters didn't mind soaking with a naked old cyclist but the high school senior boys might have a different reaction.

Back in La Grande I had a late lunch at 1:45 at a downtown Taqueria, then wandered around downtown for the last time. I already walked the main street extensively, so this time I explored the back streets of downtown.

I stopped to look at the old fire station which is now the Eastern Oregon Fire Museum. The museum has a good reputation but I didn't go inside.

The old La Grande fire station is now the Eastern Oregon Fire Museum.

The tallest building in La Grande is the 7 story Sacajawea Hotel Annex. It was once a fancy address but it now appears to be low income housing. The building resembles the old 7-story Sacajawea Hotel which was once stood immediately to the east. It was torn down in 1971. Most people in La Grande regard that to be a grave mistake.

I stopped at New Town Square to explore the La Grande Underground. This block is the only underground public area that I know of, but La Grande probably has other underground facilities, like Pendleton.

Entrance to La Grande's underground shopping arcade.

Stairway to the underground shopping arcade.

The front part of the shopping arcade is a maze of narrow corridors lined with tiny boutiques. The shopping arcade looks like it should be part of a big city subway station, not in a small town in northeast Oregon.

The back of the shopping arcade contains a large Thai restaurant. I ate there 4 months ago on the way to my Riding the Snake bike tour, but didn't eat there during this trip.

East of the main street I walked around the huge Union Pacific railroad operations center. La Grande is a major work center for the railroad. Engine maintenance, swapping crews, regional track repairs, etc. I presume that one major activity is adding locomotives to trains about to cross the Blue mountains, and removing locomotives from trains that just crossed the Blue mountains. The former passenger lobby is now a crew lounge.

Union Pacific Railroad operations center in La Grande.

The former passenger lobby occupies only a small fraction of the building.

The city of La Grande is built around the Union Pacific railroad. The operations center and switch yard are in the middle of town, effectively splitting the city in half.

I stopped again to look at the La Grande City hall. A sign says it was built in 1911 as a Federal Building and became the city hall in 1963 when a new post office opened.

I also went near the university again to see the old "Grand Staircase" which connects La Grande to Eastern Oregon University. It was built in 1929 when the university first opened. The concrete is decaying massively, so it has been closed since 2004. Restore Oregon recently awarded a $4 million grant to restore the staircase. Many people argue the large sum should be spent on scholarships rather than stairs. But scholarships aren't the mission of Restore Oregon.

Grand Staircase that connects La Grande to Eastern Oregon University. 178 steps, 5 levels.

6 months later the crumbling staircase was removed, about to be replaced by a new replica.

Destruction of the Grand Staircase in January 2024.

This is my final time to explore downtown La Grande. I think I've seen most everything now. I had dinner at the historic Long Branch Tavern which was the only cash-only business that I patronized during the tour.

Today was mostly sunny with a high of 82F, above normal. A long morning soak in a "new" hot spring was just what the doctor ordered for my rest day.

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