Not far from us, but far enough away to get away, is Benton Hot Springs. We go there regularly, but not often enough - for when we do get there we find it completely and utterly relaxing. We've stayed at the B&B (highly recommended) and we've camped and I've celebrated milestone birthdays there with friends and family. There's no cell service and they only recently added wi-fi at the B&B.
The hot springs are located in a scrubby area of east Mono County and although there are some great rocks and canyons, the real draw here is the water.
Up the canyon from the campground and B&B is the big hot pool, the source, the mother-pool.... but it is too hot to touch here. It's all fenced off to keep idiots and dogs from leaping in, but the stream that flows down to the resort is open and just dipping your hand in it illustrates how scalding it is up at this pool. It flows for about a quarter mile to the tubs and still comes out very, very warm.
The campground is great because each site has its own tub. There are big tile tubs, smaller redwood tubs, sites for several vehicles, sites that are more private. We chose a larger one since we had three couples and three camping vehicles.
The tubs are drained, scrubbed and refilled between visitors. There's no slime, no grease, no heebie-jeebies. Just lovely hot water.
We had the infamous Holiday Rambler, our spacious abode...
Our friends had their more maneuverable campers and jeeps.
We did a lot of this...
And this....
And this....
Then there was some of this:
And then a little more of this:
We managed to get out just a little:
Where 3 out of 4 of us tangled with the deadly cholla:
But thankfully JC carries a multi-tool with pliers and was able to extract the beasts with little damage.
And we ended the days with this:
along with just enough beer, margaritas and one night, shots of whipped cream vodka. Yum.
Sigh. (Map image is from Best Made Company).
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