While driving south through the town of Bridgeport on US 395, we saw a new sign on the left announcing Travertine Hot Springs. Without really thinking about it, I hit the brakes, cut the wheel, and before Vicki even knew what was happening, we were driving on a dirt road toward these so-called Hot Springs.
We spent the previous night at the Bootleg Campground, along 395 and the West Walker River canyon. We’ve stayed there before. It was located conveniently and attracted fishermen for the most part. But we didn’t go fishing this time. Instead, we headed south through Bridgeport. It was the Fourth of July, and we made it through town before the parade started. Luckily for us. And now that the town was safely passed, going to the Hot Springs sounded like a great idea. We pulled into the parking lot. There were only a couple of cars there.
The Travertine Hot Springs were located on BLM land, not the national forest, so the rules are a bit different. We checked out the displays near the lot and saw that there was a loop trail. Perfect! We began near our car and headed counterclockwise. The first thing to appear was a bubbling boiling spring of water coming directly out of the ground. The soil was yellow, so I suspected a bit of sulfur, but it didn’t really smell much at all, which is nice. We took a bunch of photos and videos of this curiosity.
The path was well-made, and lined with stones. We wandered gently downhill, looking at the colored stone outcroppings along the way. These were made out of Travertine, a type of Calcium Carbonate, or limestone, that gets deposited via precipitation when the saturated hot water from the springs cools down.
Like almost every hot spring I’ve ever seen, these were simply seeps of hot water initially. Humans created the bathing tubs of stone that are now full of hot water. There were signs just off the trail which requested that people not create any more of them. Please. We met up with a family that was soaking in the first set of pools. They looked very happy to be submerged to their necks on this chilly morning.
Half way around the loop, we saw a side trail called “Last Tub” so of course we had to go there. It was downhill a bit further, but not too far. When we arrived, two young ladies were just getting out of one of the tubs, so we walked a bit further to give them some privacy. No, they weren’t naked, but I imagine such a thing has happened by now. We noticed what looked like a dry lake encrusted with white mineral deposits down at the end of the water flow.
The signs also indicated that this used to be a mine. Apparently there was a market for travertine. Somewhere. And we saw some old rail tracks abandoned on the hillside which proved it.
Once the girls were gone, we headed back to the Last Tub. I told Vicki that I didn’t care if she took a soak, but she only removed her shoes and dipped her feet in the warm water. It wasn’t very steamy down at this end, not like at that first spring near the parking lot.
Then it was time to complete the loop, by heading back to the car. On the way, we saw signs telling about the quarry, and how this stone was shipped west and became the interior stone in the old San Francisco City Hall! Weird but true. Now this area is considered endangered, so no more mining will take place. Of course, all the best stone is already gone, so no worries on that score. Plus, we know how to grow our own calcite now.
Then we left the hot springs and continued south on US 395, heading for Mono Lake and Mammoth. We would see where we ended up next, or what we might see. It could be anything at all.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
<< Back to Part 11 Onward to Part 13 >> 
hikingtales.com 