California Hot Springs and Death Valley, April 2021

 

California Hot Springs and Death Valley

Spring Break, April 2021

 

We started our trip at my in-laws’ house just outside of Sacramento, California.  We had planned to caravan with my in-laws down the back side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, hitting some of my father-in-law’s favorite hot springs along the way.  I told my father-in-law that we also wanted to go to Death Valley, since we had never been there and spring would be a good time to go.  He then replied back that he would take us out to the Saline Valley hot springs, which are in a remote northern section of Death Valley National Park.  The road out there is rough and I was a little concerned about our minivan making the journey.

Soaking in the first hot spring at night.

            We loaded up and followed my in-laws in their Roadtrek camper up highway 50 over the Sierras.  Our first stop was a hot spring north of Bishop, California.  It was a short, bumpy ride out there, but we finally made it around dusk.  Fortunately, the hot spring wasn’t very busy and most of the people were leaving when we got there, so we had the tub to ourselves.  We camped just down the road from the hot spring. 

Our campsite.  The hot spring was just to the right of our camp.

Sierra Nevada mountains

The tub during the day.  The hot water comes from the creek in the background.

Keough hot springs

            In the morning we continued driving south, stopping in Bishop, California for some gas and snacks.  We then stopped at Keough Hot Springs.  There is a Keough Hot Springs “resort”, which is basically a large swimming pool with the hot springs water piped in.  We hike out to where some of the hot springs water runs down in a little creek and sat in some natural pools.  Even though it was warm outside, the hot springs felt great.

            After a soak and some lunch, we made our way out toward the northern end of Death Valley National Park.  We hooked up with the northern Saline Valley Road and started our four hour, bumpy, hot, and dusty drive down into the hot springs.  Since we had to climb up a pass first and then make some more steep climbs, we drove with the windows down and the air conditioning off so the car wouldn’t over heat.  We finally made it to the valley floor and could see the palm trees signaling the location of the springs in the distance, just like a desert oasis. 

The long road down to the Saline Valley hot springs

Welcome sign to the hot springs

The oasis in the desert

The minivan made the drive!  

    It was 97 degrees when we got there, but everyone still wanted to jump in the hot springs.  The tubs are man-made, but look very natural.  Of course, there are people out there sans swimsuits, but it just comes with the territory.  We camped next to the second set of hot springs.  I was a little proud that we were the only ones that drove out there in something that wasn’t four wheel drive and didn’t have high clearance (a sign of good driving or stupidity).

Saline Valley hot springs

Dinner at our campsite

Saline Valley hot springs

Saline Valley rock art

            The next morning we walked down the first set of hot springs, which have had lots of cool pieces of artwork added over the years.  We quickly found out that this is where all of the old hippies from the 60’s disappeared to.  There were lots of old naked men and women at this hot spring.  There were several tubs to choose from, all with different temperatures.  We shared a tub with an old guy with a big gray beard who looked like he had been in the sun a little too long.  He was full of great stories, most of which I think were completely bogus, but at least they were interesting to listen to.  The funniest person we saw there was an old grandma wearing a large sun hat, two knee braces, and nothing else!  We told the kids, “just don’t look”.  Becky said, “Well at least it is just a bunch of old naked people and not younger naked people.” 

"Just don't look"

Very nice warm tub for two

The older tubs, full of naked hippies

Riding in grandpa and grandma's camper

My father-in-law thought we were going to stay in the Saline Valley for another night, but the kids were eager to move on (it was still 97 degrees outside with little shade).  We packed up our stuff and headed out on the southern portion of the Saline Valley Road.  This section was rougher than the northern part.  The washboards on the valley floor were gigantic.  As we started climbing out of the valley floor, the road got very rocky.  As long as we took it slow, we were fine.  But driving slow in that heat was very hard on the car and it had a hard time staying cool.  There were only a couple of times that I got a little concerned that we were not going to make it up some hills.  After four hot and dusty hours we made it back to the highway and found a campsite in Death Valley for the night.

The road out of the Saline Valley (washboards are larger than they appear)

Starting the climb out of the Saline Valley

Joshua Tree forest

Mosiac Canyon

            The next morning we tried to get going early before it got too hot.  First, we went for a short hike up Mosiac Canyon, where the walls do almost look like someone tried to make a natural mosaic of rocks.  After this, we went out and hike on some of the sand dunes.  The temperature was already rising.  We then stopped at the borax 21 mule exhibit, then made our way down to Badwater Basin, which is almost 300 feet below sea level.  We wandered around out on the salt flats and even tasted some of the salt (it’s actually very good). 

Sand dunes

We lost one...

21 mule team borax site

Badwater Basin, lowest point in North America

Pointing to where sea level is

Salt flats

          

  After turning around, we took a short side trip on Artist’s Drive to look at the various rocks in multiple hues.  We then took a trip over to Zabriskie Point, which overlooks the valley floor.  The colors of the landscape were unbelievable! 

Artist's Drive

Artist's Drive

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point

            We then met back up with Becky’s parents at Furnace Creek, where we looked around a little.  The temperature was already climbing to 96 degrees and getting hotter, so it was time to leave. 

            In the afternoon we drove out of the park into Nevada and headed out to another hot spring called Spencer’s hot spring, which is out in the middle of nowhere.  Most of the hot water had been piped into big tubs or stock tanks. 

Campsite at Spencer's hot spring

Some tall guy was camping inside this bug

Spencer's Hot Spring

    It got pretty cold at night and in the morning the kids were ready to pack up and get something warm to eat.  My in-laws were still sleeping so we left them and told them we were meet them back at their house.