I stood in ankle-deep mud, and one of my feet was somewhere behind me in the darkness, and I was laughing so hard that I could scarcely inhale, and it suddenly struck me: I hadn’t looked at my cell phone in four hours. Not once. I had purposely left it zipped in my bag, but this was different, I had really forgotten it was there. The previous time that occurred to me was when I was at my Ojai hot springs trip, and now I am again, foot bare and smiling, in a whole other place.
Such is the case with South Canyon Hot Springs. It does not get you relaxed. It just grabs you.
How I Ended Up Here
I would tell you the truth, I did not research anything on this trip. I was quickly making a reservation within an hour when a friend spoke of the springs at dinner, and said that one had to wade across the river to get there. No research hole, no thirteen open tabs. Two just vibes and a half-charged power bank.
The approach to it was such a long way that I began to have conversations with myself, which, as you may have known, is not a new thing with me. The canyon walls began narrowing over the road, and they were red and layered, like one had piled centuries one over the other, and the light would do that stuff in which it turns to gold twenty minutes and makes you think you were in a movie.
Then I smelled it before I saw it, that faint smell of mineral, a bit of eigeness, odour of hot springs, which people either adore or of which they are allergic. I love it. It is as though the earth is up to something.
The River Crossing (And Why I Nearly Turned Back).
No one had given me sufficient warning concerning the river crossing. You are obliged to stumble through frigid, slow-moving water to get to the springs, and my head was doing the thing that anyone traveling knows: It was going into panic over my mobile phone and my footwear and my ego all simultaneously. My bag was over my head, as I was in some form of low budget survival drama. Water was freezing. My feet went numb. And then the springs.
Straight out of that iciness of that river into the hot water, seemed like my entire nervous system was working short in the best manner possible. I even uttered. One of the older men standing nearby joked and made a comment about it being the first time; he did not even look up. Everyone seems to do this.
The Food, The People, The Unexpected Best Part.
All right, here is what I keep on telling everyone. Over an open fire this small, unmarked place near the springs, where an old woman was cooking dinner, was present. I hadn’t had any intention of eating at all there, I was merely guided by the scent, frankly. She had prepared this dreadfully hot stuff, the food that in any case I could not contact due to my embarrassing spiciness. But something in the chill air and in the fact still to rise off my body, and in the waving of a hand by her to show me I was less secret than a brother made me say yes.
It was, without a doubt, one of the best meals I have had during travelling. Each bite was different with the heat and the smoke and how she kept on filling my bowl without consulting me. We did not speak a common language, except by signs and a good laugh, although she fed me as though I had known her all her life. Sweating spice and heat through that I sat there under the stars and thought: this is why I travel. Not the landmarks. This. A kitchen belonging to a stranger and a canyon with steam.
Can’t-Miss Attractions & Secrets.
South Canyon will never be a single large pool, it is a row of small ones each having its own character.
The Upper Pools
A noisier, warmer, and dwell, where the morners sleep. In toto si vellem, venereonem. Go immediately after formation of the sunrise before the crowd comes down the parking area.
The River-Edge Pool
This one is literally on the point where the hot spring water and the cold river are combined. You may move your body a few inches and become scalding or be icy. It may well seem corny until you experience it, it is actually one of the most enjoyable sensory experiences I had in any hot spring.
The Food Stalls Past the Main Trail
Bypass anything that comes nearest to the parking lot. It takes you ten minutes more to see the smaller and family-owned ones, such as the one where I enjoyed that spicy meal that I will never forget. It is where the flavor is, not at the distributing ends to day-trippers.
Eleanor’s Practical Advice
Some of the things I would have liked someone to tell me before I visited:
- Wear water shoes not sandals. The crossing of the river has a slip-rocky bottom and I had almost lost a shoe to the stream.
- Pack a dry bag (not an ordinary backpack) to the crossing. My hold it over your head technique worked, but was clumsy.
- It is best to go in the early morning or just before sunset. Midday is busy and quite frankly the light is not as good to take photographs.
- Do not pass over the small food kiosks – the fine food is seldom to be found in the busiest of them.
- Pack a headlamp. It was almost pitch-black and my phone flashlight was not doing the trick.
- In case you are packing the night before, I actually borrowed some of my own travel packing tricks so that all my gear will stay dry and in place during the exact type of trip you are going to.
- Bring cash. Most of the food vendors near the springs don’t take cards.
- At least two nights. A single night will not be sufficient to experience a sunrise soak and a sunset soak and, frankly, you will be desiring both.
Conclusion (But Not the End)
I continue to reflect upon that supper. Not the springs, not the photos not even the absurd river crossing – the dinner. Something about being fed by an unknown who has no incentive to be that generous other than she wants to be, in a place which smells sulfury and starlight, will stick even longer than a tourist attraction whatever its marvel.
South Canyon Hot Springs provided me with sore feet, spice-inspired sweat, and a tale, which I have now narrated at three dinner parties. I would like to go back tomorrow.
Has there been a time where you have been on a trip and the food that you ate has been the highlight of the trip more than the destination itself? I want to hear about it– tell me about it.
