Spooky Harrison Lake

They say that Harrison Lake is warm, due to the presence of the hot springs nearby, but that's not the way I remember it!

My first husband and I went camping there with another couple, early in the Spring of 1970. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground, so perhaps "warm" is a relative term. The lake was not frozen. It was dark when we got there, so we bypassed the sign at the entrance to the hot springs and set up camp on the shore of the lake. It was before camping season had officially started, so the camping area was not actually open for business. We just found an open area and settled in.

The lake was so cold that my hand went into shock when I scooped up a handful of wet sand to clean out the greasy pan we had cooked in, and the remaining fat in the pan solidified instantly into something that had to be chipped out.

We were sleeping out, with no tent, and the sound of a huge animal crashing through the brush woke us all at the same time. We never saw the animal, but sat gaping at the lake for a long time.

The water glimmered with phosphorescence, and all the huge surrounding evergreens were glowing a pale green. The effect in the moonlight was beyond spooky, and all the way to magic.

In daylight, we found that we were on the site of an old log cabin, the remains of which had almost been reclaimed by the rain forest. There were parts of axe-shaped logs and a few square nails. We thought about living there. If the effort of survival permitted, I'll bet it led to a spiritual frame of mind.