Fish Lake Valley Hot Well

Fish Lake Valley Hot Well, NV 

I have no idea how I stumbled upon this hot spring, but glad we did. It has an interesting history. Back in the 60’s a company tried drilling for oil. They didn’t get any of the black gold, but instead tapped into a hot water aquafir. They capped the well and went on their merry way. Years later the county opened the spring for people to soak, built a cinder block wall around the spring and allowed people to camp around it. Lucky us.  

The water flows into the spring or “well”  at 100 gallons per minute at about 104 degrees. How perfect is that! No pipes or valves to fuss with, just perfectly heated water au natural.

The water drains out into several ponds. The pond closest to the soaking tub is about 100 degrees. The pond has koi swimming around and lots of coots and mallards.  They like swimming right up to the hot tub.  It’s fun to watch them as you hang out.

We had the hot spring to ourselves for most of the afternoon.  The force of the water coming in feels great (kinda like a jacuzzi). Really looking forward to enjoying this spring when the temperature drops to the mid-teens tonight.  It was a sunny 50 degree day so very pleasant soaking weather.  

We met an adorable young couple from Portland that camped here last night. They headed out mid-afternoon.  As of early evening there is only one other camper here on the other side of the pond.  It really feels like we are in the middle of nowhere.  

Another view of Wolfgang with the Silverpeak Range behind.  

Speaking of, here’s a screen shot of where we are.  Yeah, middle of nowhere.  

We are so enjoying boondocking more than we have in the past thanks to Wolfgang and his solar abilities.  

Hot Spring Sampler

Benton Hot Springs, CA

Can you believe I slept 12 hours last night?! Those really were some magical hot springs. By the time we rallied, made coffee and headed back to Travertine Springs it was about 8ish. It was already too busy for my liking, so we decided to explore some other hot springs.

This area is called Hot Creek Geological Site.  It’s not swimmable or soakable, think Bumpass Hell at Lassen National Park. 700,000 years ago 50 cubic miles of molten rock was blasted from this area creating a huge caldera.  The water from the Sierras seeps down thru cracks to the molten rock 5 miles below and creates steam vents, boiling water and an occasional geyser.  

We stopped by Mono Lake for a mid morning walk.  I love strolling on this boardwalk at the County Park. So interesting to see the signs marking the decreasing lake level over the years.  Hard to believe these tufas were under water in the 1950’s.  

We’re continuing to put Wolfgang thru his paces.  We decided to get off Highway 395 and take some “backroads”.  Lots of fun ditching pot holes and navigating boulders and sand. 

He’s passing with flying colors! 

Our next soaking destination was Hilltop.  We were expecting a crowd, but had this little spring to ourselves.  This spring has a valve that lets you adjust the incoming water, Ned got it dialed in just right.  We hung out for quite awhile, it was a great lunch spot too.

We were about 10 minutes away from Wild Willy’s Hot Springs and it had been years since we had been there so we decided to revisit it.  This spring is much larger and has several soaking pools on both sides of the boardwalk and along the creek.  We went in the first pool next to the rock outcropping on the left side. Some people were just getting out so the timing worked out perfectly.  

Tonight we’re camped at Benton Hot Springs, an old favorite.  We’re not in our preferred campsite (#5), but glad we got the last available site.  It’s going to be a cold one again tonight, but at least it’s only a few feet to the hot tub.  

Travertine Hot Springs

BLM Land, outside of Bridgeport, CA

We thought we’d do a little mid-week exploration of hot springs.  Travertine Hot Springs was the first one on our list. We’ve passed this spring lots of times driving on Highway 395. We always said “one day,”... and today was finally that day. 

 I kept my expectations pretty low wondering how Wolfgang would do on the dirt road, was there snow, would it be crowded, would it just be a mud puddle? 

Turns out it was amazing.

We almost had the place to ourselves.  Even though there were several cars in the parking lot, this area has a lot of little springs dotted all around.  It absorbs the people nicely. We stuck to the main pools and hung out for the majority of the afternoon. 

The first pool is the hottest (maybe 104/105?).  The mother source drips off the travertine directly into it.  It felt divine.  It’s shallow, but great for stretching out, putting your head back and just soaking. 

Ned was curious where the water was coming from, so he took a little hike up to the top of the ridge.  You can see the trough that the water has made over years and years of tumbling down the rock.  It looked like a fault line going down the middle of the rock.  

I opted to stay in the springs and soak, you can just barely see me in the far left of the picture. 

We eventually tried out 3 of the 4 pools, each one varying in temperature.  

In the background, behind Ned, are the Eastern Sierras and the town of Bridgeport.

Looking down on the town of Bridgeport from the ridge. 

This is where we spent several hours.  It was the coolest of the pools (maybe 95/99) and felt so good to just hang out.  We stayed until the outside temperature began to drop.

We’re camped just down the road of the hot springs on BLM land.  It was about 50 degrees most of the afternoon.  Just perfect temperature for soaking.  Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to...12 degrees.  Yikes!

Good thing we got each other and a bottle of wine to stay warm! (okay, and a heater in Wolfgang definitely helps too).