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Hot Springs I like soaking in hot springs, and one of my favorite hot springs happens to be Umpqua hot spring, 77 miles from home. It's on a bluff over the North Umpqua river.  The source is 110F and the water flows into 7 pools, cooling as it goes downhill. Here's the view when approaching Umpqua hot springs.  20 years ago the only pool was in the shelter. But then a tree fell down above the shelter and hot water flowed into the hole left behind. Over the years 6 cascading pools were built to take advantage of that new hot water flow. Here's a view of the four upper pools, with what's left of the fallen tree. The lower pools have a view of the North Umpqua river far below.  Do I look like I'm enjoying myself? Here's the view looking inside the shelter.  The shelter pool is about the size of a small hot tub.  Big enough for 4 friends. The shelter is very nice to have during winter when it rains most of the time.  It provides a dry place to put your clothes. The setting is awesome when fresh snow sticks to the branches of the Douglas Firs. Two other hot springs in my area are McCredie and Cougar.  I don't especially like McCredie hot spring because it's a giant "mudpot" that can't be cleaned and because it gets noise from a highway and railroad track.  Cougar hot spring is quite nice, but I only go there a couple times a year.  It's a 20 minute longer drive and you have to pay $5 admission.  During winter Cougar hot spring isn't very hot because rain cools the hot source.  But it's in an awesome old growth forest setting and has a cold spring right next to the hot spring. In 2009 the tree behind the shelter (picture above) fell and squashed the dressing shelter.  A new larger shelter was built above the first pool, as shown in the next picture.  In addition, the stonework around the pools was rebuilt to make it stronger and more vandal-proof. p.s. These hot springs are on public land (National Forest).  Swimsuits are not required.