Bagby Hot Springs
During our trip to the Pacific Northwest, we started with a plan to go to one hot spring east of the city then head west out to explore Olympic National Park. Like all good plans, this changed after going to the hot spring the first day and finding out from a local how close Portland was to Seattle (3 hours, that's no big deal!). So we jumped in the car and headed South. What we didn't realize was that the Bagby is 2 hours from Portland... 5 hours later we made it to the Bagby hot spring trail.
About Bagby
Located 2 hours southeast of Portland in the Mt. Hood National Forest, Bagby Hot Springs is magical. The trail is 1.5 miles in the forest that reminds me of Harry Potter's forbidden forest with large mature trees shrouded in mossy vines. It follows a winding river and crosses 2 bridges, everything you could ask for in a forest adventure with the added bonus of it being an easy trail.
History
The springs were discovered by Bob Bagby a hunter and prospector in the 1880s, and Phil Putz a member of the Forest Service guard built a cabin at the spring in 1913 for the forest guard with additional buildings to follow soon after. Of those buildings the cabin is the only one remaining onsite today. In 1974 the Forest Service built a new cabin at the springs, starting the momentum for the Friends of Bagby, a group developed to build and maintain the hot springs, to build the current bathing facilities in the 1980s, a hundred years after the initial discovery of the hot springs.
My favorite part about the history was what we learned while talking to the campground host. The spring facilities were hand crafted out of naturally felled lumber found on the land. The group collected the trees and milled the wood on site and hand carved the canals that help to bring the water into the facility and the log tubs in the first bath house! If you ever have a chance to visit the hot springs, take a minute to look around and appreciate the craftsmanship of the facility. It is something magical when you do.
At the springs, there are 3 spring facilities.
The first is made up of 5 individual stalls with a carved log tub in each. The hottest tub with the best water flow is the first tub. The system is almost 40 years old and the water doesn't flow as well when getting down to the other tubs. It is so hot though that you have to use Home Depot 5 gallon buckets to haul freezing cold water up from a tub between spring house 1 and 2 in order to temper the water down. There is a bit of a learning curve with all of this to learn the system to get the water in and to block the water off when you have enough, but it is all part of the experience!
The second facility, has 3 round tubs that took longer to fill. We were in those tubs for a short period, but preferred the individual log tubs above due to the water flow.
The third facility was not attached to the other two but instead was 100 feet beyond. This is a relatively secluded spot and we didn't go to see it since there were groups in there each time we tried.
As you might imagine, the springs are highly frequented by locals, especially on the weekend. We arrived on Thursday and were lucky to only have a couple people at the springs with us that day. We camped that night and went in the morning as well, lucky that we did, as we headed back the springs were getting crowded and we kept passing groups on the trail.
These springs were incredible from the trail to the tubs. We couldn't have asked for more. One thing to keep in mind if you choose to go, please pay the $5 per person fee at the trail head. The funds help to maintain and preserve the trails and facilities for years to come!