If there is one thing that stirs autumn sensation in Japanese man’s heart, hot spring is definitely the one.

I remember numerous late summer travels to Japanese country side with my grandmother to visit hot spring in Nagano mountains. Hot spring is more than a pool of hot water to cleanse your body; it is healing source to release tensions from chaos infused modern life. Go figure. Jump into the hot spring and stretch out and you will know exactly what I mean 🙂

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I had a blast visiting some of the best hot springs in California this past weekend. Trail head to East Fork Carson River is merely 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive from San Francisco Bay Area.

The trip was a grand introduction to discover more hidden hot springs in California…

Waking up early on Saturday morning is never possible without the incitement of golden adventure. In this case, it was easy: Long awaited backpacking hike and hot springs to soak into! It was also perfect season to catch the changing colors of the Eldorado National Forest.

Morning view of Freeway 580 as we drive East from San Francisco.

Around 11am: we reached the Hope Valley Cafe in Eldorado National Forest to merge with other half of the group.

Autumn colors were in full swing!

After meeting with the rest of group – We hit the road for another 20 minutes to reach the end of Diamond Valley Road where we parked our cars and commenced on roughly 5 miles hike to reach the stream of East Fork Carson River where we camped out for a night.

Hot springs are located near the border of Nevada and California (on California side) and it is otherwise hard to reach by ordinary mean of transportation. My Honda Civic wouldn’t make it without busted engine and destroyed tires. I was fortunate to hitch the ride with group of awesome hikers (Greg, Amy, and Meira) and 4WD through dusty road to trail head.     

Hiking started with off the path trail into desolated field and continued unto relentless mountain trail that added great elevation gains/losses to the total hike.

After hiking for 3 hours, the river has finally appeared in our sight.

One of the small hot springs by the river.
Smell of sulfur that pool emits may bother some people, but to me it was a great reminder of hot springs visited in Japan.

At night, I took a very long bath at one of the hot springs that sits atop the hill overlooking the river stream below. Sense of time was rather useless, and all I could see was a last streak of sunlight gradually vanishing into the West mountains.

Once the lights are diminished and darkness engulfed the surroundings, I looked up to the night sky and saw a carpet of stars shimmering above my head. It was very bright night despite the absence of moon. Beautiful illumination of galaxies drew sufficient amount of light to the earth and with only my head above the steaming pool surface I have indulged on this magical view.
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As if by magic, the moon appeared from the top of mountain and pitched a long silver reflection on the river surface like a spear thrusting into the water. I watched the silver hand reaching the depth of river bed… and with it I felt my muscle aches dissolved into the steam.

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In the morning, when the temperature was still low I saw the steam trail created by hot spring stream.

In the modern world, convenience is the twist of valve that magically produces the hot water; but in real world that is miracle. Being in the wilderness even for a day can let you feel the blessing of mother nature that warms up your cold body from the inside. Morning bath in the hot spring is necessity for chilled body waking up in the middle of desolated valley, and certainly something to look forward to.

If you are all sore from heavy duty life and tense from fixated daily cycle, maybe it is time for you to pack up and make a hike to natural hot spring.

Over 5 miles of intensive hike with 38 lbs. backpack may be a bit of challenge for backpacking starters (you can make it even lighter if you are smart about packing though) however, the cost you pay for the epic moon gaze and witnessing sunrise from hot spring is well worth it. East Fork Carson River was nice little hidden spot in California that I can certify as legit hot springs experience (as semi-professional hot springs enthusiast from Japan of course 🙂 ).