Road trips to hot springs
There's nothing quite like a relaxing soak in hot, hot water after a long day's drive or sitting in hot water up to your neck in the cold night air, watching satellites and comets shoot across the dark night sky. Any wonder why we love hot springs?
This winter we added two more hot springs to our life list, only fueling our desire to experience more. As we 
travel, we check to see if there are any hot springs along our route. They are both refreshing and relaxing. In fact, it is easy to get hooked and make hot springs not only part of the journey but even at times the destination.
CHINATI HOT SPRINGS
While at Big Bend National Park, we drove west through the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande on Hwy 170 through Presidio and Ruidoso, then another seven miles on the rather washboard Hot Springs Road to Chinati Hot Springs. Nestled in one of the many small canyons in the Chinati Mountains of west Texas, this oasis offers hot mineral waters reputed to have healing powers.
We rented one of two cabins, each with its own soaking tub. Other accommodations included guest rooms attached to the main house, tent sites and boondocking areas for small RVs. Though a 28-foot trailer made it down the rough roads and turns, we would not recommend doing that. Instead, leave large RVs in Presidio and come out for the day.
We were greeted by a howl from Jubilation T. Cornpone, the bloodhound, plus several other barking dogs. Amazingly they only barked on our arrival. Caretakers Krissy and Dave Sines showed us around. Besides the tub in our patio, there were three "private" soaking baths holding two to four people -- private because once you go in and lock the door, it is yours until you come out. You can also use the larger group soaking pool and a
swimming pool.
For meals, we cooked in the communal kitchen which has two refrigerators and is fully equipped for guest use. You bring your own food. It was a fun way to meet other people. Departing guests often leave extra food and supplies. Unfortunately, there were no coffee filters, so include those in your supplies.
We enjoyed dark night skies from our outdoor tub and sampled other private baths. I did wish we'd brought inflatable pillows to cushion our necks. We also hiked in the nearby hills. With no phones or computers access, this was a great place to get away from it all.
Chinati can be reached from Marfa, Texas, via Hwy 67 to Presidio, then west on Hwy 170 or by a high-clearance scenic route. Check on road conditions before attempting this route unless you have four-wh
eel drive. Click here to visit Chinati Hot Springs online.
FAYWOOD HOT SPRINGS
After our wonderful two nights at Chinati, we asked RV friends for hot springs recommendations. Hot spring aficionado Betty Prange recommended Faywood Hot Springs in New Mexico. North of Deming off I-10 and just off Hwy 181, Faywood is about halfway to Silver City on Hwy 61.
Faywood has 30- and 50-amp pull-through RV sites as well as tent sites, cabins with kitchenettes, and teepees for rent. The main public pools with lounging areas are segregated into "clothing optional" and "clothing required" areas; both have privacy fences. Additionally, we could use a "clothing optional" area for overnighters. Each pool area has three soaking pools -- one is about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, another about 105, and the third is cooler. Private soaking pools can be rented for an additional fee.
You can stay in Deming or elsewhere in the area and come in for the day. However, using the pools at night and seeing the stars, plus soaking early in the morning made staying there worth it. There's a lot to explore in the area: City of Rocks State Park, Silver City museums and shops, Gila National Forest and the cliff dwellings there, plus Deming. Massages can be booked; ours with Marshall were wonderfully relaxing. Click here to visit Faywood Hot Springs online. NOTE: 2008- Faywood Hot Springs is closed. My understanding is that is for sale. We hope someone purchases it and reopens it. It's a wonderful place.
FAVORITE HOT SPRINGS
I polled RV friends for their favorite hot springs. Here are their suggestions, with links to Web pages if available.
Key: C=commercial; NC- noncommercial
Betty Prange goes regularly to springs along Hwy 395 and particularly likes Travertine and Hot Creek (NC), El Dorado Hot Springs in Tonopah, Arizona, off Interstate 10, and Essence of Tranquility in Safford, Arizona (C)
Dexter Yard and Priscilla Scott both recommend Liard Hot Springs on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia (NC, fee).
Marilyn Blintz recommends Ouray Hot Springs in Colorado, run by the town of Ouray (C).
Brooks Rimes recommends Glenwood Springs, Colorado (C).
Lila Thode recommends Tecopa, California (C); White Horse Ranch (also known as Willow 
springs), and Alvord Hot Springs in southeast Oregon; and Bog Hot, Spencer, Potts and Alkali hot springs in Nevada (all NC).
Megan Edwards recommends the natural pools in the forest behind Fairmont Hot Springs in Fairmont, British Columbia (NC); the four pools at Sam's Family Spa in Desert Hot Springs, California (C); and the private co-ed pools at Delight's Hot Springs in Tecopa, California (C). Her favorite one in Colorado is Strawberry Park near Steamboat Springs on the banks of Strawberry Creek (C).
Pat Kyne recommends several. Umpqua Hot Springs is in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest, northwest of Crater Lake (hike in, NC). Kirkham Hot Springs, four miles east of Lowman, Idaho, on ID 21, is a nice primitive spring with an adjoining National Forest Campground (NC). Hot Well Dunes is a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) recreation area in eastern Arizona, southeast of Safford (NC but there may be a fee and access on washboard dirt road). Thermopolis, Wyoming is 
in Hot Springs State Park (NC, free)
Mark Sedenquist recommends the natural pool called "Little Eden" found ¼-mile up the hill from Mono Hot Springs, California (NC) and "the barn" at Summer Lake Hot Springs in the "Oregon Outback" (C)
Phyllis Frey recommends Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Corona, California, with a variety of pools and spa treatments, including a clay treatment, which leaves your skin feeling smooth and soft. (C)
For a hot mud bath, visit Calistoga, California, which boasts a number of spas. (C)
DeAnna White and Al Stovall have always enjoyed Austin Hot Springs, right off The Loneliest Highway in the World in Nevada; Baker Hot Springs northeast of Mt. Vernon, Washington in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and Mile-16 Hot Spring in the South Fork Salmon River Canyon, Idaho. (All NC)
MORE HOT SPRINGS RESOURCES
Find description and directions to noncommercial hot springs, plus some commercial ones in these books:
Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest, Marjorie Gersh-Young
Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Northwest, Marjorie Gersh-Young
Hiking Hot Springs in the Northwest, 4th ed. Evie Litton
Click here for all sorts of information and resources about hot springs.
By Jaimie Hall Bruzenak. Originally published at RoadTripAmerica.com March 2006.