Midway Crater

There's a bunch of hydrothermal activity up in Midway, which has produced several "hot pots," including one they call "the crater." I thought we'd go up there for a field trip to see some of the mineral formations, and we decided to swim in the crater too. (The crater is part of the Homestead Resort. Sam and I stayed there one time but didn't get to swim, to our great disappointment. I knew that you could swim and scuba dive there because Rachael went there in high school on a date one time, and I was jealous because it sounded so cool!) Anyway, because it was a weekday and sort of off-season, it seemed like a good time.

The drive up was really lovely

Once there, we found several empty hot pots to investigate. Some were enormous! . . . 

Big enough that it looked like someone had once made this into a shed

and you could stand inside like this! So cool.

I don't know if the water in this was actually warm, or if it had just filled with rain or something

"The crater" itself was SO amazing. It's huge!

When you get inside, the water is perfectly warm (95 degrees or so) and the cavernous setting is otherworldly. It's like swimming in a cave---quiet and echo-y and lamplit. And the mineral-y walls are fascinating up close! I loved swimming around near the edges and trying to figure out how the deposits had accumulated. The water is deep, so everyone has to wear life jackets, but the children all kicked and bobbed around like little fish. It was so relaxing! We could have stayed for hours if Junie hadn't gotten tired of it. You're only supposed to have a 40-minute session, but there was hardly anyone else there, so the man let us stay in for closer to two hours. We loved it!