Hello all. Just wanted to post a fun little local trip (non 4x4 type). To all that don’t know about this place, it’s called Bagby Hot Springs. Now I know some of you know the history and if you haven’t been up there recently, don’t hesitate to give it another try.

 

My wife and I were bored Saturday night and decided to take an adventure to the hot springs as neither one of us had ever been there. We packed the car (mothers Honda Element) and headed out around 8:30 PM with our two wonderful hiking companions Lucy and Tiva (Pit-bulls). All the way up there it rained off and on.

 

After about 1½ hours we finally arrived at the parking lot. It’s now close to 10 PM and very dark and peaceful in the woods. There were several other cars in the lot. Looking around for evidence of car vandalism, we didn’t notice any and decided to head up the trail. With our headlamps on and our flashlights in hand we crossed the first of many foot bridges. Looking down we could just barely make out the water in the moon light.

 

After about 30 minutes of hiking (in a very light rain/mist) up the trail we came across another foot bridge and I tried just for fun to take a picture of the river which I could now see as my eyes were almost fully adjusted to the darkness. It turned out like crap. Go figure. So we meandered up the rest of the trail and finally found the bath houses.

 

As we got closer we didn’t know what to expect, so we just kind of walked around checking the place out. We were yelled at twice for having our headlamps on. So we decided to turn them off and find a tub. Jackpot, first room we looked in was empty. As we entered the smell of wine coolers over powered the smell of the mineral water and we decided to find another tub. We went a door or two down and found what seemed to be the cleanest one of them all.

 

After we got the dogs situated, we started filling the tub (which is hollowed out Doug Firs I believe). The water comes out of the springs @ 137 degrees. Not knowing this I was wondering what the 5 gallon bucket was. After a couple minutes of the tub filling up, I realized exactly what the bucket was for, the cold spring water just a few feet away to cool it down with. When we got the tub to an acceptable temp, we jumped in. As we settled into the tub, I could feel my stress and tension literally melting away.

 

The setting was absolutely perfect (other than the loud group of drunken women) for hot spring water soak. The stall that we were in (I think all the stalls were the same) had a partial roof on it making the mist a very welcome cooler. The temp started to get a little to hot so we decided to get out and start making our way back to the parking lot.

 

On our way back to the car, the hike didn’t seem nearly as long as it did on the way up. We were greeted by the lightest snow I have ever seen. I was so light it was almost literally dust.

 

As we arrived to the parking lot, I was completely relieved that there was no vandalism to our car. We loaded up the dogs and headed home. We finally arrived back at our house around 4AM.

 

So if you want a really easy hike (approx. 1.5 miles each way, with very minor hills) and beautiful scenery, night or day, why not try Bagby Hot Springs? Also please take a garbage bag to help clean up some of the lazy people’s trash while on the trail. A pepperoni stick package has no place in the forest.

 

We are going to try out Austin Hot Springs in a couple weeks!