A Hidden Place Beyond The Hills (Ojai 2.0)

With this post, I have invited E to join in as we share impressions of this hot springs journey we just recently returned from. This includes visualized memories as the place we visited made it very clear that no photos were to be taken, nor social media could be used as part of a waiver we both had to sign. Quite in tune with the grittiness of the land and the approach, what was experienced demanded that we grant our memories a more raw, shared form of documentation.

With this in mind, let's get into it!

After more than a couple years, Michael and I headed back to Ojai, and this time, to the {REDACTED} hot springs.

As we drove up the undulating roads of the 150 towards Ojai and passed familiar landmarks, Michael longed to secure residence in those parts one day. I quipped that he was a Dry Hills Hobbit finding escape from too much civilization, a sanctuary nestled among dry-stack stone walls and overgrown chaparral brush. I could imagine him intently baking his loaves of fresh bread in an home-built outdoor oven. He agreed whole-heartedly.

We drove up and up and down and down sun-baking sinuous mountain roads. The intensifying smell of sulphur signaled that we were approaching the correct location. {REDACTED}’s first sign was one of a series of hand-painted letters with wispy ascenders on found wooden panels beckoning us to proceed to a small trailer that served multivariously as sentry, residence, and office. Those greeting us were lean, tan, and spry, true workers on the land.

The initial impressions of the place were that of an ongoing, ambitious botanical process.

The minimalism of infrastructure echoed across the tented common area, outdoor dining facilities of split wood trunks, and in the mobile bathroom facilities, embellished with potted succulent cuttings. All over, the hardiest of outdoor plants struggled against the ubiquitous sunrays: mammoth sunflowers, nasturtium, winter squash vines, fig, lavender, aloe vera, sages, firestick plants, and tomato vines. Planters were fashioned out of common construction scrap material and logs. A lot of work was done and more was in progress. Having a backyard myself, I could imagine the amount of work employed and how much left to go. This was an ambitious permaculture project.

The hot springs were an effective means of fundraising, at $20 per person for two hours of soaking. (It could still be considered a poor man’s spa, as the other day spas of Ojai cost upwards of $150 and in pools encased in ceramic or concrete.) Connected to the parking lot with carefully constructed river stone pathways, the sulphur hot springs were in a series of five. What they all shared in common was algae growth and fine black particles in the very warm water. The pools themselves were in a very natural state, though it was evident that the placement of large stones demarcated them more clearly than nature’s design. The pools cascaded into one another, with the last one being particularly slimey and characterized by feathery strands of white algae, that repulsed Michael. He took one look at the lower pools and the facial expression he bore may be equivalent to those that confronted E.Boli for the first time. There was no way he was going into, what he called White Mucous Springs. Afterwards, I found out on the interwebs that their presence in sulphur hot springs was quite normal and there was no mention of harmful effects.

These hot springs are supposed to be good for blood circulation and skin problems, like my eczema. Soaking in them restores minerals that strengthen these bodily systems. As we both sat in the shade of overhanging trees and leaned back on boulders in the water, we soaked and talked. The combined heat of the water and the day was a bit much but we took it like medicine.

There were other bathers before and after us. A clothing-optional couple seemed to have no qualms about the heat, opting to wade in a pool that was directly under the sun. A young couple felt hesitant and squeamish among the dark, slippery algae. A stalwart Russian man covered with tattoos and his buxom girlfriend with long, bleached blond hair tested each pool rapidly, with equally fast exchanges of comments.

Two young Armenian teenage girls followed us as we finally ventured towards Cold Creek. A steady flow of water studded with minnows was sheltered by a canopy of foliage. The touch of the water lived up to its name. Each person that got in released a squeal or yelp at the frigidity, particularly in contrast to the warmth of the baths.

When I got in, I could sense myself losing sensation in my legs, and I quickly raced towards a large boulder to climb onto for solace. In the meanwhile, Michael and the others gradually sat down into the water and even dunked their whole heads. I could not believe their endurance! Michael says he can take cold water over hot on any day. He is a true creature of the desert furnace.

Getting out of the chilled bath, our bodies felt significantly loosened and relaxed. Nearby outdoor showers, with smooth flattened rocks and feet beds, were the final phase of this bath therapy. It was wonderful! The views of the surrounds as water rained down from sunflower showerheads bestowed us with a sense of serenity.

Walking back towards the parking lot, we decided to explore the permaculture terraces some more. In observing its extent, we realized that {REDACTED} was not just a hot springs and a garden but a conscientious philosophical approach to a way of life in which human life thrives more symbiotically with nature.

I take its ideas back with me to downtown Los Angeles and to my own backyard. How can we recreate this at home? This is a big and fascinating feat, and one that is likely worth the effort.

Michael was not so sure!

As we drove the two hours back to LA, he was more keen on the LED sign that said, “30 Minutes To Downtown” and the proximity of Halloween. He was also keen on succumbing to the sleep that his loosened body craved.

But when I reached his home to drop him off, he looked sad. He said he was bummed out that our adventurous day arrived at its end so soon.

Fantastic moments pass too quickly. We relive them through our notes.

Time to clear throat for a moment. Yes. My throat comprised of pulsing blood through my arms, ultimately leading to my digits, allowing me to better type out my thoughts in a concise, and hopefully droll enough manner to best encapsulate my take on this shared experience. With Eileen at the helm of this unique return to the hills north of L.A., there was a part of me that remains utterly curious about the capabilities of the fringe, natural world just on the ragged edge of city life. Eileen, knows this about me quite well. Particularly my own anxieties about that edge, and what might cause me to better evolve. Yes, this involves forcing me out of comfort zones, leaving me to flail endlessly into the oblivion of potential metamorphosis. And since this is Halloween, it felt only right to take the plunge as it were, and see these hot springs for what they truly are, scary or not.

And her impressions are largely spot-on, as the venue is a remote, almost compound-like endeavor, complete with and in progress feel, uninstalled lights, improvised garden batch setups, open domes, and pots of to inevitably become residential greens, crops, and flowers. Dirt paths, and dusty all-terrain vehicles being the larger mode of transport for the work allowing for the proprietors to go about their business as visitors tend to their bodies with the rejuvenating waters nearby.

It’s true, there is and likely will always be a part of me that appreciates the counterculture, but considering a frame and body type that is more about mental capacity over that of a busybody, my role tends to be more of a supporting one. Permaculture, is certainly something to both be admired, and adopted. But a cubicle dweller like myself, is a lot more at ease delving into a more hybrid approach, as opposed to these incredibly dedicated souls, all granting their hands, skin, and drive toward what is an almost all-consuming lifestyle. Which is also a reflection of how nascent, and more community based much of today’s more conservation-centric culture truly is.

This is reflected in the venue’s overtures for helping hands, which will pay in free trips to the springs.

For the two of us paying visitors, we were allotted two hours to immerse into whatever of the several pools that were within, including the Cold Creek. Adopting the Goldilocks approach seemed best. Beginning with the initial pool, where we experienced our first instances of casual nudity. And to be honest, the revelation was perhaps something of a well-prepared one on my part, because my initial impressions were not unlike that of walking out into a public beach, and everyone is on towels, and in their bathing suit best, It was more remarkable thinking about just how ordinary it felt. And while neither of us were willing to go quite that far spring-side, it was a welcome feeling that such social restrictions simply did not exist this corner of the hills. And on such a sun drenched day, this was doubly so.

Looking back at the entire session, it was that initial dip into the first pool that left the most powerful dents into the layers of my mind. A sensation reaching toward every conceivable corner of one’s corporeal form. Every nerve attenuated to the feeling of an almost amniotic embrace. Not unlike William Hurt’s isolation chamber in Altered States, there for a moment, was this feeling like being straddled firmly between earth and deep space. And while it was the second to hottest pool of the bunch, a part of me laments leaving it to test the others as they progressively either grew hotter, cooler, and with varying levels of soot and bacteria. There’s just something alienating to be about immersing onesself in a hyper natural pool rife with not only algae, but rock clinging organisms undisturbed to the point where entirely new heat-dwelling microorganisms could thrive. Having been in an onsen a decade back where the rocks tend to be brushed regularly, the sight of white algae swaying in the current, unveiled to me certain personal limitations. And the cold creek, while a rush to experience alongside Eileen, and several young people, all daring each other to dive with more determination these shallow waters of possibly 35 degrees celsius, was also a hotbed of parasitic life that made me squirm just a smidge.

Needless to say, I might have panicked a little.

Don't worry, Michael. It's natural.

Ebola, is natural!

But those outdoor showers. What a treat.

Which is to bring us back to the beginning; yes, this little journey was not only about escape, health, or relaxation, it was equally another in an ever growing number of small voyages, centered on discovering as much about the natural world, as it is the self with confronted with the organic new. Like so many others, I have often lived life on a specially selected parameter of rails that allows for a sense of consistency and safety, knowing full well that this is in many ways the antithesis of life itself. Conversely, these little trips with E often represent that break free from these self-imposed confines. Not a vacation per se, but a means to challenge the more amoebic elements of body and mind. A week ago, i knew nothing of this place. Nothing of the lives that nurture it, and nothing of the unpredictable elements that surround it. The opportunity to share these moments is of peak value. And despite my tendency to jerk and evade, there will always be an invisible force, ever compelling me to experience. Much like the intense waters of these springs, may such journeys propose greater changes, and in turn, challenge the me that was days before the confrontation. And this go round, was as rewarding as ever.

Thanks, E.