Happy Valentines Day!

2/14/10 Sunday

Happy Valentines Day everyone!
Back on the road again and we are on the way to Holtville, CA and the BLM area known as Hot Spring. This BLM area has 2 LTVA parking areas and 1 no-fee area. The no fee area is approximately 2 miles south from the hot spring accessed through the South LTVA. The BLM seems to be notorious for putting the no fee area in the fartherest, hardest to reach and least maintained places. No only that, the signage is poor and the BLM seems to not want you to know where these areas are.

We stopped at the camp host for directions first. Across the road is the hot spring and we had to take a look before finding a camping spot. There is a group of large palm trees surrounding a pool of very green but cool water. This is like an oasis in the desert! The main hot spring has been enclosed and cemented around it with two cement pools for people to relax in. The first pool is the hottest and is deep enough to stand in or sit along the sides. It has an overflow which funnels the water into the second pool. This pool is cooler and is deep enough to sit in comfortably. The overflow from this pool goes into the “pond” or oasis and is much cooler. There are signs to not swim in the pond area but people do get in to cool off.

This is a very different type of area than we have been in. Imagine being in a packed sandy dune type landscape. You must stay in areas that it is obvious it has been packed down and driven on before. Off of the roads, you will find yourself in a sandy loose patch that can be trouble especially without a 4 wheel drive. Just turning around was enough to make us wonder if we could get stuck. Finally we found an area where the trailer door would be away from the sun all day. This is something you need to consider for some extra cooling.

After getting set up, we headed off to the hot spring. Wow! It was great. This water is soft water and feels wonderful and doesn’t give off a sulfur odor. Oh, I meant to mention that someone has added a pipe with multiple holes that sprays a misting fountain of hot water that you get into first. This is Thomas’ favorite place. Not too hot and not too cool. I start there but go looking for a spot in the first pool. A perfect time to go seems to later as the air temp cools off.

I think I have found a great place to spend the whole winter.