The Hot Spring:

  Summer Lake Hot Springs is a wonderful rustic pay for hot spring on the south end of Summer Lake right off the highway.  It is a popular destination in the remote area with RV hookups, rentable cabins and trailers, and lots of camping spots.  The owner is very nice promoting alternative lifestyles with festivals and making it a popular resting point on the road to Burning Man.  

  The soaking facilities are a huge bath house with showers and changing area.  In the house is a large concrete pool about 4 feet deep, 15 feet wide, and 30 feet long.  About 20 gallons per minute of 110 degree water constantly flows into one end of the pool keeps the temperature at around 102 deg F in the summer and 100 deg F in the winter and requires no chemical treatment.  Outside of the bath house are two smaller (fits 4-6 people) rock and mortar tubs that are a little hotter around 102 to 104 deg F and can be controlled with a valve on a pvc pipe from the pump house.

  Summer Lake Hot Springs were first used in the late 1800's and early 1900's by people on the Oregon Trail.  A smart man named Jonas Woodward first owned the property and used wooden tubs for the water, until he sold the property in the 1920's to George Minton.  In 1928 Claude Minton, George's son, built the bath house and concrete pool that is used today.  This is one of the few bath houses that has survived the decades since the depression.  The spring changed hands several times until the McDaniel Family purchased it in the 1950's and made it a popular spot in the Southern Oregon Desert.  In 1997 they sold it to Duane Graham and Suzy Vitello who still own it today and run it great!