To find the secret hot springs, first you'll have to drive about 45 miles of washboard dirt road.
"Hey, where's the hot spring?" Larry asks the Joshua Tree.
We stop at mile 27 to check on a worrisome rattle. Behind the car, you see the saline flats where salt was harvested in the early 1900's and sent 14 miles via tram over the Inyo Mountains (left side of photo) to market. It's the steepest tram ever built in the United States.
We have trouble finding the road to the springs. It's not on the official park map and there are no signs. Eventually we stumble upon this conglomeration of hippie metal artwork. We must be near.
The spring and outlying camping looks like this.
The desert wildlife looks like this.The springs were developed in the 1960's by people who'd opted out of the Great American Dream, choosing peace and solitude over a two-car garage and an office job. They built a series of rock tubs and planted palms and grass.
The park service took over the springs years ago, kicked out the permanent residents, instituted a 30-day camping limit, installed a live-in ranger (one of the former hippies), and turns a blind eye to nude bathing which is officially against park rules.
This camper tells the park service what it can do with its policies.The spring probably isn't everyone's idea of a dream vacation spot, and besides, it's a secret so have fun trying to find it.
Eventually our time runs out, and we have to return to Portland. We climb out of the valley on a snow-studded road.
Once we hit the pavement, it's snowing in earnest, making our week in the desert seem like an impossibly lovely dream.
