School ended in early June for me & both kids, so they got to go to both sets of grandparents' houses while Justin & I got to relive what it was like to not have kids for a few weeks. (It was strange to say the least!!)
Justin & I jumped in the Tahoe & headed west towards New Mexico. He had planned a 10-day trip across the state on the search for finding the best natural hot springs. That involved lots of driving, camping, hiking... and sleeping in the back of our Tahoe!
Here starts the adventure:
DAY 1:
8 mile hike in the Gila National Wilderness in southern NM to the Turkey Creek Hot Springs.
(The "fog" you see in the background of this first picture is actually smoke from the horrible wildfires that the Gila National Forest was experiencing while we were there.)
We were prepared because everything we had read about this hike involved wading across 3 rivers, hiking on paths that really didn't look/seem like paths, caving, bouldering... and all of that to get to a hot spring. Off we went!
We ran into a local on our way to park at the trailhead; he assured us that if we had to climb (okay, crawl on our bellies) through a small cave opening, we were on the right track & almost there.
Well... we found the cave!
We had hiked 4 miles in & we were tired. And it was HOT! (Granted, we were in southern NM basically in the desert. Gah...)
Justin pulled out his GPS & determined we were very close to the springs, so as I sat & ate lunch, he went exploring to find them.
And he did!
Instead of there being just a pool or two of warm water, there was HOT water (around 165 degrees) flowing out of the ground upstream and mixing in with the cool stream water, so all of the stream pools were heated. We enjoyed a quick soak before heading back.
We hiked 4 miles back to the truck, ate a PB&J sandwich for dinner & then found a place to park in the trees for the night. I think I was asleep in the back of the truck before the sun even went down.
DAY 2:
We woke up early (with the sun) & followed some simple directions that a local gave us to find another hot spring pool that was close to the road. This one was GREAT. Some locals had basically built it up & put a tarp in the bottom of the pool to make it the perfect soaking spot. Add that to the fact that it was in the 40's that morning (the water was probably around 102 degrees), and I was in heaven!
We kept driving west through the Gila National Wilderness to get to SW New Mexico for our next stop. I snapped this picture (from the truck) of the horrible smoke from the wildfires...
Our next destination was the San Francisco Hot Springs.
Quick breakdown: In the middle of the scrubby desert, no shade trees, 2 mile hike DOWN to where the springs were, then 2 miles straight back UP. (Ugh.)
Once we found them, we were not really thrilled about them. We'd seen better.
But we enjoyed our lunch on the creek bank before we headed back to the truck.
That afternoon, we drove north towards the Jimez Mountains for our next set of springs.
I snapped even more pictures of the fire's devastation...
DAY 3:
We were up early again (with the sun) and were at these springs by 6:15 that morning! It was pretty cold out & we were looking forward to some warm soaking.
This was Spence Hot Springs in the Jimez Mountains. Gorgeous setting... the water just wasn't hot enough for my liking when it's chilly outside. My guess is the water was right around 100 degrees. But the scenery was GORGEOUS!
After a couple hours of soaking (by ourselves -- an added bonus of getting up & soaking so early), we hit a few other places that day.
First up was Soda Dam. They weren't hot springs, but a really cool rock formation, dam & waterfall right on the roadside. Justin explored while I sat on a rock & sunbathed.
Down a narrow, rocky, dirt 2-lane road ended up being one of our favorite springs... 4 miles down that road! Thankfully, the gate was open & we got to drive most of the way down. It was well up in the 90's during the day & hiking that far in the open sun wasn't intriguing to me.
The San Antonio Hot Springs were amazing.
We hiked up the hill midafternoon & found lots of people soaking too... and made a quick decision to camp nearby, get up early & be the first ones to enjoy these springs in the morning.
The temperature was perfect for cold weather soaking. Water temp was around 106-108. I couldn't wait for the next morning!!
DAY 4:
Up with the sun (as usual). It was COLD outside... 37 degrees! We hiked up the hill in sweatshirts & long pants... peeled off our clothes to our swimsuits & got ready for the most relaxing 2 hours of our entire trip. Soaking in the San Antonio Hot Springs by ourselves on the side of this mountain.
Ahhhhhh.....
That afternoon involved another 4-mile hike to McCauley Warm Springs. A neat little area in the woods where the water was only warm -- not really my cup of tea, but it was a nice change since we were sweating from our hike to get there.
And to top it off, there was a huge amount of small fish (minnows? guppies?) that were in these pools & they'd sit & "eat" at you while you were relaxing. Justin thought it was cool... I did not. Kinda freaked me out. So I got out & sunbathed on a tree instead.
We drove out of the Jimez Mountains that day toward Los Alamos, New Mexico.
We went to the Bandelier National Monument where the Pueblo Indians used to live. Some amazing cliff dwellings, I must admit. Plus, we went to visit after the park had closed, so in addition to not having to pay to get in, we got to tour by ourselves, at our own pace, etc. It was amazing.
DAY 5:
This was our "off" day. We drove into Taos, watched a movie, did some shopping & stayed that night at a Bed & Breakfast in the Taos Ski Valley. It was nice to have a real shower, sleep in a real bed & even catch our Razorbacks in the College World Series on TV! Ahhh... we were roughing it! (ha)
DAY 6:
Up early to the Ponce de Leon Hot Springs in Taos. The picture below is of Justin soaking in the actual hot springs...
...which flowed into this amazing pool.
This used to be the site of a resort back in the late 1800's. The springs put out enough water to fill this large pool & another that was about 4 times the size of this one (which had been bulldozed over back in the 70's). People used to come soak in the healing waters & enjoy a few days at the resort.
We just enjoyed this pool. Justin swam & I laid out on the side of the pool.
We hit another hot springs that afternoon but I didn't get any pictures; the Black Rock Hot Springs. It was right on the Rio Grande & we got to talk to a local guy that had been soaking there for years.
Just north of Taos was the Gorge Bridge over the Rio Grande.
I hated this part.
We walked out on the bridge (I'm horribly afraid of heights) & took some pictures.
I was praying the whole time. EEKS!
DAY 6:
This was our last day to do our hiking & hot springs thing. We had camped in the truck at the Manby Hot Springs trailhead for this spring & got on the trail first thing when the sun came up that next morning. This one, also, was on the Rio Grande, and was called Stagecoach Springs because directly across the river from these springs was the old stagecoach road that lead out of the canyon. Really cool.
Also, the story behind these springs was really cool. A guy named Manby made these springs into a resort back in the late 1800's, people came to soak, etc. He ended up not being able to pay for them (after he tried to just take the land for himself) & they became in ruins. But what was still remaining was really cool, right on the river. Lots of thick rock walls that made me wonder what it looked like 100 years ago.
This one was great too. We soaked over 2 hours by ourselves. It was cold outside & the springs were the perfect temperature -- around 105 degrees. We sat & talked and just enjoyed our last day.
Very relaxing.
We hiked out, got in the truck & headed east.
We spent that night at my cousin's house in Oklahoma City before driving to my parents' house the next morning. My Aunt Leon had passed away during our trip & I was heading home for her funeral.
More pictures on how amazing she was to come...
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One more picture...
Back before school was out, I took senior pictures for one of my students. Kaylee tagged along & I snapped this cute one of her. Cutie pie.
(We've since cut her hair shoulder length...)
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