Surprise Valley Hot Springs and Cave Lake in California

August/ September 2009

Our adventure this month had us headed to the very remote area of Cedarville, California. This place is literally out in the middle of no where. It is just what we were looking for. Once you enter the small town of Cedarville, you then drive about 5 miles East down a road which looks abandoned. There are smoke tuffs in all directions down this road as there are natural hot springs all around. Once you reach the sign, you turn and drive down a 1.5 mile flat, dirt road. And then the green grass and natural hot, mineral springs appear at a beautiful oasis of a resort. There is a motel and separate cabins. We took a cabin as they have private fenced in back yards and their own individual temperature controlled hot, mineral baths. What paradise!

The mineral baths left us feeling very relaxed. We started each morning and evening with a dip. Since the temperature is controlled by you, you can make it warmer or colder. And there are four mineral hot spring ponds on the property which are approximately 90 degrees and pets are welcome. It must have felt good for the hounds as it was hard to keep them out. There was also a dog named Tahoe who is there full time. He loved the ponds too.

Another amazing feature of this resort is Mazolis. This is a woman's homemade food delivery service. The meals are delivered to your room in hot iron skillets. From marinated tri-tip to an amazing hot apple pie. We ate so well that we figured it would be wise to get a little exercise in.

We explored the local area and Modac National Forest. There are many lakes and campgrounds in this area. We found a great place to take dogs to- Cave Lake. It was a little more remote than the others, and no one was fishing. We also met others with dogs and everyone seemed to get along well. After a couple of hours of fetch and a nice long hike we started back to Surprise Valley. There was a sign for "Mineral Springs" pointing down a dirt road. We decided to walk it. It was also in the GPS so we knew where we were going. Once we found it, we were surprised to see that it was very rich in iron and very rusty in appearance. The dogs soaked again!

Anyway, with all this being said, I would recommend this vacation. It was relaxing and pleasant, and the pets enjoyed it. The resort routinely pick up from the local airport too. Check it out.