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I'm currently at Valley View Hot Springs. They really are marvelous.
The Orient Land Trust, which holds the land, is dedicated to preserving open space in this valley. Besides the hot springs, there is a bat cave on the property (the bachelor colony of the same bats that birth in Carlsbad), and as of last year, an ajoining cattle ranch.
The hot springs are simply amazing. The biggest pool is an actual swimming pool, and ajoining it is their new, completely green, sauna. The sauna has a cool-dip pool built into the floor. When we went there last night, there were a bunch of Amerinds there singing/chanting. It was pretty interesting. I learned that singing a Sun Dance song while drunk is not good - the fellow who made the abortive attempt at it appologized and wished for no ill-luck to come to anyone as a result of it. I enjoyed listening to the different contributions people had to the songs, especially the fellow who muttered assorted thanks to life/nature/spirit as an undertone to the melody.
If you don't have a camper or tent, there are a bunch of cabins available to rent inexpensively, though we just slept on the ground next to the car last night. One of the things that makes this place really nice is the community kitchen - there's a fridge and cookware that you can make use of, as long as you clean it up immediately afterward. If people don't want to take their good food away with them, they'll leave it on the free shelf. Most of it is spices, but anything could be there - someone told me last night of the time when someone left most of a case of wine.
It's a little strange seeing somebody come up from their camp space, holding a cup of coffee and wearing nothing but a big red sweatshirt.
Oh, and the really neat thing about OLT is that they power the entire place with a hydroelectric plant! According to a poster they have up in the Welcome Center, it produces up to 93kW of power, which I guess is rather a lot, since they're powering a good two dozen buildings on that.
The Orient Land Trust, which holds the land, is dedicated to preserving open space in this valley. Besides the hot springs, there is a bat cave on the property (the bachelor colony of the same bats that birth in Carlsbad), and as of last year, an ajoining cattle ranch.
The hot springs are simply amazing. The biggest pool is an actual swimming pool, and ajoining it is their new, completely green, sauna. The sauna has a cool-dip pool built into the floor. When we went there last night, there were a bunch of Amerinds there singing/chanting. It was pretty interesting. I learned that singing a Sun Dance song while drunk is not good - the fellow who made the abortive attempt at it appologized and wished for no ill-luck to come to anyone as a result of it. I enjoyed listening to the different contributions people had to the songs, especially the fellow who muttered assorted thanks to life/nature/spirit as an undertone to the melody.
If you don't have a camper or tent, there are a bunch of cabins available to rent inexpensively, though we just slept on the ground next to the car last night. One of the things that makes this place really nice is the community kitchen - there's a fridge and cookware that you can make use of, as long as you clean it up immediately afterward. If people don't want to take their good food away with them, they'll leave it on the free shelf. Most of it is spices, but anything could be there - someone told me last night of the time when someone left most of a case of wine.
It's a little strange seeing somebody come up from their camp space, holding a cup of coffee and wearing nothing but a big red sweatshirt.
Oh, and the really neat thing about OLT is that they power the entire place with a hydroelectric plant! According to a poster they have up in the Welcome Center, it produces up to 93kW of power, which I guess is rather a lot, since they're powering a good two dozen buildings on that.
