Wild and Free At 13

Spending our 13yr anniversary in Benton Hot Springs was as romantic as it sounds. Yes, we could fill buckets with the amount of sweat we produced in 100+ degree weather, and yes, we could only enter the hot spring at midnight when it cooled down enough. Bugs did bite the living Hell out of us, and we dined with bratwursts and beer for dinner. But there were wild horses that sauntered past us in the arid landscape, and we savored the intensity of nature as we jumped in the cold waters of June Lake. We stayed on the grounds of a ghost town, and floated in our own personal hot spring beneath the moonlight and stars. So yes, I would say it was a very romantic anniversary.

Benton Hot Springs is a town that water flows continuously from the surrounding mountains. There are no pumps that are used to direct the water, and gravity supplies the showers and the toilets. Cool water has to be brought in and stored. It is healing and magical soaking in the mountain water, especially with only the moon above you and the mountains to each side of you. Mammoth Lakes is just a 50 minute drive away, and became our escape from the heat. It was a weekend wild and free, and the perfect reminder of who we want to be.