Ojo Caliente

After five days camping in the national forest, I not only had my first shower, but spent the day at the Ojo Caliente hotsprings and soaked in several different mineral pools, had a mud bath, a steam sauna and a long luxurious shower.  It was a well deserved spa day.  I also got my first hike in, up on the mesa above the hotsprings, to a Native American ruin that didn’t have much left but a lot of pottery chards.

My friend Hinton, was going to Ojo Caliente for the day so I decided to join him.  We had lunch and dinner in their restaurant and wine bar, which provided a couple Veggie options.

The day was beautiful!  Warm and sunny.  There were clear skies to where I could sit in the tubs and look up at the stars.  The grounds around the springs were beautiful.  Overall it was a good day!

I had to cancel the client I had scheduled in the afternoon because there was only Internet inside of the restaurant and lobby and my Verizon hotspot didn’t work.  I was concerned about this so I called ahead to make a camping reservation and to ask if they had good Verizon service out there.  They said “Yes, Verizon is the only service we get out here.”  They were wrong about that.  Verizon was “roaming” only.  Note to self:  “Don’t schedule outings in remote places on work days.”

I camped in their very overpriced campgrounds, which was nice to have nearby, but the hotsprings charged “high end” prices for a “low end” campground.  They charge the same for tent campers or vans that don’t need “hookups” as they do for full hookups and they failed to provide me a site with hookups.  It isn’t that I needed them, I just expected I would have electricity and water, which I fully planned to use, since I have an extension cord in my van.  The water didn’t work, there was no electricity and the number of my site 28, was missing the “2,” so my site just said “8.”  I was pretty blown away they were charging $40.00 a night for a tent spot with a rickety picnic table and no services.  The code I was given for the restrooms didn’t work either.  I imagine they can get away with charging such prices, which, by the way, didn’t include entrance to the hotsprings, because they are the only game in town.  If you wish to camp, this is your only option; except my friend Hinton camped in the nearby Church parking lot and some van campers just leave their vehicle parked in the main lot overnight.

Was it worth it?  The soak definitely was!  It was such a treat to soak in the tubs and I slept so well that night.