You can go from the beaches of los Angeles to the mountains of San Bernardino national forest in a few hours and get the beach and a great hot spring in half a day. We visited a friend in L.A. and after time at the beach, he wanted to show off the power of his new Tesla car on a mountain drive. The Tesla had plenty of power going up the mountain drive to lake arrowhead. After some time at the touristy lake arrowhead, we started our drive of about 20 minutes to where the trailhead to deep creek hot springs starts.
This is probably the hardest I have ever had to work to get to a hot spring, but it was worth it. One way to reach the spring is via the Bowen ranch. This is private property and they will charge you $10 for the access. Also, you have to cross a freezing cold stream to get to the hot spring. This is the short Since we were coming from lake arrowhead, our trailhead was the pacific crest trail. This trail is a six-mile round trip up and down some challenging terrain. The surroundings are beautiful dessert with After about 2 hours of up and down and winding trail, you’ll reach the hot springs. There are 3 pools there about the size of large hot tubs. This spring is non-commercial and free. Also, the springs are clothing optional so be prepared to see some naked hikers on the way there. The water was warm and clean with some slippery algae growing on some of the banks.
I recommend that you start earlier in the day. We under estimated the 2 hour each way time to reach the spring, so we were only able to stay about a half hour to soak because of the impending sunset. The last half hour or so of the hike we did in the dark with only our cameras flashlights to see the trail (not recommended since it can be a steep fall if you venture off the trail.
After your long hike and well-deserved soak, head back to los Angeles for some Korean barbeque. Like we did, you earned it.