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).
