Fixing the Hot Spring Leak

October 2nd (Wednesday)
It was cloudy in the morning, and we were finally able to receive a very poor quality weather fax, which confirmed our suspicions that there was a low-pressure system close by. Luckily it looked very mundane, and it looked like the weather would not deteriorate further.
We made our second attempt at repairing the hot spring pool. Instead of focusing on where all of the water appeared to be flowing out of, we looked for where the leaks were coming from on the inside. There were areas that we suspected, but we were unable to verify if they were in fact leaks. While checking out these areas we found two holes. Actual holes, in the floor. 

Bottom of the hot spring pool.

It seems that the floor is a layer of concrete or plaster, or something that is on top of rocks. In points the layer bridges gaps between the rocks, and is an inherent weak spot. The two spots that we found, although quite well filled in with slime and old leaves, were definite leaks. When we cleaned out the gunk, they were big enough holes to create a vortex in the water as it rushed out. We focused our time on fixing these after finding no other obvious leaks. Hopefully we have done an adequate job of plugging the holes, and there are no other ones that we missed. While having the bottom of the tub dry and given that we were already working on the inside, we gave it a clean before beginning to refill the tub once again.
Later we went back to check on it, and although it had filled somewhat, it was not nearly as full as it should be. Luckily we noticed that the flow coming into the pool was seriously diminished.  There seemed to be a blockage just a bit inside the pipe where it restricts from a 7" to a 3" hole. We managed to clear the blockage using a long piece of smaller plastic pipe that was lying around. Hopefully everything will remain good overnight, and in the morning we will go to find an overflowing pool. Then the test will be when we decrease the flow so as to allow the pool to cool sufficiently, will it maintain its level. I hope so!
We saw the mom bear and one cub on the shore this morning, and another bear on the shore in the afternoon. They sure were making use of the feast of dead salmon. 

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