Weekend Getaway - Bagby Hot Springs, Oregon
At a glance
Just a short drive from Portland, Oregon, Bagby Hot Springs takes you out of the city life to enjoy a soak in the outdoors. Located in the Mount Hood National Forest, Bagby is a natural hot springs that has a bath house with several tubs and private rooms for people to soak in.
After arriving at the Bagby Trail Head, you begin your embark for 1.5 miles through Oregon's beautiful natural forest. While we went in winter after a snowfall, the trail is normally clear and makes for an easy hike. As you begin to reach the 1.5 miles, you will come across a bath house that looks like a cabin. This is where there are five tubs that are in private rooms. There is also a two larger circular tubs that are down below the private rooms.
Tucked back a bit further, there is another larger tub that could fit six-eight people and is in an area all by itself.
Our adventure
My partner and I decided to go to Bagby for a quiet New Years getaway this year. While the reports warned that the snow could be troublesome during winter, we decided to still test our luck. The drive was beautiful and the road conditions weren't bad at all. We were actually surprised at the amount of cars that were up at the trailhead.
The hike up to the hot springs was fairly easy and other than the few ice patches, it could be done by any range of experience.
When we arrived at the end of the trail, there were three main buildings and one that was everyone was specifically headed towards. You could tell immediately that this hot springs has a lot of wear and tear due to the conditions. However, we struck up conversation with two people who were actually maintenance workers. They told us about the current conditions and how they were working on repairing the facilities this spring.
Due to the wear and tear of the current buildings, it was difficult to direct the water to specific tubs. However, the best part we experienced was the community at the springs. Everyone was extremely friendly and offered a hand to help. The five main private tubs all had issues with getting the water to stay in each of the rooms, and to get the water to the end of the route was nearly impossible if those rooms were trying to section off water. Two women at the bottom of the building had created a route to carry water from the top of the springs to fill one of the tubs by hand. After speaking with them and helping for a while, they informed us of a separate bath house in another building which is where my partner and I ended up getting to soak.
We spoke again with the maintenance workers before we left Bagby and they were extremely apologetic for the conditions of the springs. After speaking with them, however, we are excited to see the improvements they are expected to do over summer to make the hot springs back to what it originally looked like.
