Location: Keough Hot Springs, Bishop, CA
After a chilly start, (it takes a strong constitution to take a pee in the high desert at 29 degrees!) we continued our drive down Highway 395. It had been at least 15 or so years since either of us had been to Bodie so we thought it would be fun to poke around there again. By the time we drove down the washboard road and entered the park it had warmed up to at least the mid 60's. Perfect for doing the walking tour and reading about all the history. Ned was the tour guide and I concentrated on taking photos. There were very few people there and it was quite fun to have the place to ourselves. Hard to believe that over 10,000 people lived in this Godforsaken place! It took 8 days to bring a wagonload of supplies in from Carson City. Temperatures could reach 120 in the summer and the winter could bring 20 feet of snow. Given these harsh conditions it's amazing that there are still parts of this town standing. Our next destination was Devil's Postpile National Monument. We drove by Mammoth Ski Resort which seemed to have about 2 feet or so of snow from last week's storm. When we reached the gate to Devil's Postpile, it was closed for the winter. Bummer. Note to self - remember to check this out in the summer months. We drove around the Mammoth Ski Resort and were wowed with some of it's high end shops and housing. I don't know, give me the low key atmosphere of North Lake Tahoe any day.
We had read about several hot springs in the Owen Valley that were on government land but were below the radar, known to locals and not advertised. We took several miles of dirt roads, followed the printed directions that included such details as "turn right on the alkaline road immediately after the second cattle grate...take a hard right near the large rock and then veer left at the fork." The walk to the hot springs was along a boardwalk about a 1/4 mile. Amazingly we found this sweet hot springs. When we first arrived we thought we had it to ourselves and were just ready to go native when a family of 5 arrived, including their 2 small children and dog. Ned, being the scientist he is, had brought along his thermometer so we could measure the temperature of all the hot springs we are going to visit. This particular spring measured at 102. Perfect! We had a great soak and learned from the locals that the other hot springs in the area were valve controlled and had overheated. This spring is completely natural so no temperature issues. We lucked out! After a very relaxing soak we continued onto Keough Hot Springs in Bishop, a place we have stayed at a couple of times before. The pool and hot springs are closed tonight, but we hope to take advantage of them in the morning. We did measure the natural creek and hot springs that are on government land close by, but since they were only about 92 deg, we are holding out for the private one tomorrow. This desert weather is something else. It was quite pleasant warming up to 76 degrees today, but now that the sun has gone down the temperature is plummeting quickly. Looks like another cold night and morning. Good thing I'm snuggling with my honey tonight!
