Tecopa is a tiny desert down in Southern California. As you drive through, you notice that businesses and houses alike are mostly small, once white trailers covered in dust; wooden stairs leading to rusty doors. A secret find down a long, dusty path, the spring where we soaked was deserted when we pulled in, late in the evening as the sun was setting. We parked our vehicle directly next to the man made tub, behind a few bushes and palms for the semblance of privacy. Four feet deep, and about five feet squared, the tub is barely big enough for two people. Three is definitely a crowd.

A solitary, early morning soak is good for the body and for the soul!

In the corner, sunken below the surface of the water, a lonely plastic lawn chair awaits its next visitor. An abandoned couch sits just outside of the pool, its best days behind it. A sun-bleached pool skimmer leaned against the couch’s weathered arm. The water was, at best, luke warm in the evening. Still, we soaked, appreciating the tub for what it was: a little green, a little scuzy, but with a welcoming warmth on an evening that was getting increasingly chilly. After sitting briefly alone, a fellow bather walked up and introduced himself. Richard was an aging hippy with long hair and a thin physique devoid of any muscle mass. As it happens, Richard likes to bathe in the nude and asked if we would mind if he stripped down to his birthday suit. This was our first ever clothing optional hot spring. We opted to stay suited up, at this point still unsettled by the idea of being de-robed in front of other humans. As we relaxed around our naked bathing companion, he began telling us tales of his heavily storied life: his time spent as a masseuse at The Venetian in Las Vegas, rubbing down the likes of Latoya Jackson; his plans to move to Hawaii and start a vanilla orchid farm. The tales were endlessly exciting, made better by his thick, South Carolina drawl.

Before he left that evening he asked us to please put the tarp over the pool and secure it at the corners with rocks. We were glad we did. After a night of staring up at the amazing stars in cooling water we slept like babies and awoke to a tub that was (almost) too hot to sit in, thanks to the old tarp trick. We luxuriated in the tub as the sun crawled higher into the sky and scooped buckets of hot water out and away from the tub for a much needed shampoo.

Despite all its flaws, it was hard to pull ourselves away from Tecopa hot springs. When we finally did, we took solace in the promise that more soaks were to be had in the very near future.

Cleanliness - 2
Amenities - 1
Scenery - 3
Community - 3
Camping - 3