Trip out West - Harbin Hot Springs in California

Day 17; Sunday, July 15th
First day at Harbin Hot Springs in California

After a well-needed late start we made our way to Harbin Hot Springs – a place Rick had visited as a child with his father.  Back in Texas, Rick had printed out detailed directions on how to get there – good thing he did, getting there was a bit tricky as it certainly doesn’t show up on a map and there’s minimal signage (the place is out in the middle of nowhere).

We arrived at around 3:00 or 3:30.  You need to pay a membership fee to get in and the rules were laid out to us at the gate: no photography – period.  You see, the place is clothing optional and to ensure a safe environment, no picture taking is allowed at any time (even if there’s no people about, clothed or otherwise). 
No cell phones either.  Fine by us, we don’t own cell phones.

We were told where we could pitch our tent and off we went.  Rick’s only memories of the place were of the pool area, so figuring out where to go initially was a little tricky, but we finally found a nice spot to set up camp and then we wandered around, trying to get a lay of the land.  So far we hadn’t seen too many people.

We did finally find the people at the main area where there’s a café and restaurant.  There were tent vendors selling wares – mostly clothing ironically.  We stopped off at the office.  We were interested in utilizing some of their spa treatments and finally settled on Watsu, which was invented at Harbin and is a branching of Shiatsu.  Shiatsu is a type of massage that incorporates elements of yoga and gentle body movements.  Watsu is all that, but in the water.  I’ve always found it intriguing and what better place to experience it but at the source!

With our appointments made we hit the pools.  Turns out that even though you don’t need to be garbed anywhere but where food is served, the pool area is the only place where you find nude folks.  In fact, no one wore clothing at the pools (accept children under seven who are required to wear swimsuits).

Rick enjoyed comparing the place to his memories.  Some things were in different locations and, of course the place felt smaller than he remembered it, but all in all it matched fairly close.

It took a little getting used to the co-ed dressing room, but the shock wore off fairly quickly.

There’s several water areas to choose from: there’s the hot pool that’s a wopping 113° F. People are advised to stay in that pool no longer than 5 minutes. That water comes straight out of the ground that hot!
The warm pool (the most popular) stays at around 95 to 98°.  There’s a heart-shaped pool that’s also warm and a “traditional” swimming pool that’s also spring-feed so there’s no chlorine but it’s not heated.
The cold plunge pool is just that – cold!  It’s a nice “treat” after soaking one’s bones in the warmer waters. Harbin also boasts both a dry and steam sauna as well.
 
After the pools we returned to the tent vendors and I ended up splurging on a lovely hand-dyed silk dress and scarf.  After that we headed down to the nice temple that’s on the property.  There was a Sufi gathering going on that evening.

Rick went for a morning swim while I updated my journal and expense tracking records.  We hiked a couple of the trails and then I did a little more shopping – this time buying a yoga outfit as I wanted to attend one of the yoga classes, but hadn’t packed any yoga clothes.

We hit the pools in between the day’s activities, which was a great way to spend the time!

We went to our Watsu appointments that afternoon and wow was that fun!
You lay back while the practitioner supports you and moves you gently through the water, keeping your head just above the surface.  The massage and stretches were great!  It was very relaxing.

The 5:00 yoga class was fun too.  Everyone was clothed for that one – I was expecting some folks to do it in the buff, but apparently it’s common practice to keep one’s clothes on for class (glad I bought those yoga clothes!)

We reluctantly headed out that morning and said our good-byes to Harbin.  That was a very fun place and I definitely want to return some day!  It’s a lot like Ananda Ashram – just with more water ;P

From Harbin we headed north towards the Redwood Forests.  We actually stopped just shy of the park – in Crescent City, as it was getting on towards evening and we had done a fair amount of driving that day.