Riverbend Hot Springs – Public Baths

To get an idea how popular Riverbend is, go and read their Trip Advisor reviews or check out their Facebook page. And it’s not for nothing, they’ve got a groovy thing going, for sure.

Their public baths offer a fine opportunity to meet other travelers and share stories. I’m really not much of a social butterfly, especially when I’m on my own, but I appreciate the concept and I want to include this “public bath” experience as part of the project.

So I don the old lady bathing suit and a towel and head on down to meet my fellow soakers.

Most of them are congregated in the lower pools, and I just can’t bring myself to crash any of the parties. So I start out in the three-sectioned upper baths, former minnow baths converted into soakers, offering water that’s hot, medium and mild (as hot springs go.)

My fellow soakers appear to have been here a while, and the chatting continues until they eventually all shuffle off in groups of 2 and 3.

Once I’ve got the place to myself, and am free to move from bath to bath without apology or introduction, I try them all out.

The oval-shaped rock-lined pools below are a bit cooler than the upper baths, with better views of the river, which is flowing high on this fabulous day.

I enjoy one last long soak, my 21st, dipping between pools, in a gorgeous setting with a view of the river, and the water, of course, is lovely.