Drakesbad Hot Springs

Drakesbad Hot Springs is a remote silica-rich geothermal spring in Lassen Volcanic National Park, northern California — one of the few thermally active national parks in the United States, where the ongoing volcanic and hydrothermal activity of the Cascade Range produces bubbling mud pots, steaming fumaroles, and hot springs that make this landscape one of the most vivid accessible demonstrations of the earth's internal heat in North America. The silica content of the spring waters creates the characteristic milky, smooth appearance associated with many volcanic hot springs while imparting the skin-softening properties that make silica springs among the most sensuously pleasurable to bathe in, the dissolved silicic acid filling the skin's microscopic surface textures and leaving an incomparable smooth softness. The historic Drakesbad Guest Ranch provides the only visitor accommodation within the park's backcountry, and access to these geothermal pools in this remote volcanic wilderness represents one of the most uncommonly beautiful natural thermal bathing experiences available in the American national park system.