SUMMER LAKE HOT SPRINGS: OREGON OUTBACK

While researching places to stay along our recent road trip through Oregon, I came across this little gem located 2 hours south of Bend.

Arriving shortly after 3pm, we picked up our keys at the office and made our way to our cabin.

Summer Lake Hot Springs offers guests a wide variety of accommodations to choose from, including the cozy Paisley, Manzanita, Nightengale and Ponder cabins, the Homestead Guest House, a Ranch House, as well as sites for RV’s and tents.

Smoke from a farmers adjacent property added a little drama to our arrival.

Our $110 a night cabin for the evening was the Nightengale.

It included geothermally heated floors, a large picture window, two comfy queen size beds, a kitchen, bathroom, 24-hour access to the bath house/outdoor rock pools and a fire pit. What a deal!

After getting settled it was time to explore the property and have a soak.

The rustic, timber-framed, metal-clad bathhouse was built in 1928.

Drink before you sink.

No glass, just ass.

The natural artesian hot mineral water comes from an aquifer nearly one mile below the surface before emptying into the pool at around 106 to 113 degrees. The water was the perfect temperature, didn’t smell and made my skin feel silky smooth.

Da rules.

Please shower first…

…no, really.

Showers, toilets and changing stalls can also be found inside.

Two outdoor rock pools are located just outside the bathhouse.

The pools overlook Summer Lake (alkali) and are a great place to watch the stars after night falls.

The property itself is beautiful.

Once we made it back to our cabin we realized we didn’t have any wood for the fire pit, so we hopped in the car and made our way to the nearby town of Paisley to see what we could find.

Fortunately Paisley Mercantile had plenty of wood and gave us a trunk full of freshly cut juniper and pine for only $14. It’s also the closest store around, so if you forgot to pack something or just need to pick up some nice cold beer, this is the place to go.

Making it back before sundown…

…we unloaded our wood and headed out for a little more exploring while we still had some light.

After we got back to the cabin we realized we forgot to bring one of the most important tools for building a fire, a lighter. That didn’t stop us though.

Having a fire right outside our cabin was amazing, so we decided to ask our neighbors over to see if they would like to share it with us. We spent the next couple of hours with our neighbor Amy, eating mac & cheese, drinking beers and shooting the shit under the moonlit sky before taking one last soak in the outside tubs.

Visiting Summer Lake Hot Springs was definitely one of the highlights of our road trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone making there way through the Oregon Outback. Wanna check it out for yourself? Call 541.943.3931 or visit www.summerlakehotsprings.com for more information.