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Carson Mineral Hot Springs Resort & Golf
- Good for Kids:
- No
4 reviews for Carson Mineral Hot Springs Resort & Golf
Truly Rustic! Not for the Luxury Spa types. A great experience always!
I have been going to Carson Mineral Hot Springs for 6 years now and go about three times a year for a personal mental health day, alone and/or with friends. Each experience is about the same, we start off from Portland on a beautiful drive up the Gorge. Cross the Bridge of the Gods and then head to Skamania Lodge for breakfast, then head over to the spa.
You register at the front desk of a very old hotel (that even has a haunted room upstairs). You are led into the Bath house and you get a bath, wrap and massage for only $80. That's a steal.
This place is purely to take care of your mind, body and spirit. http://Vs.come out polished, pampered like Dosha of Portland would do. It's almost as if you are in a foreign country. The tubs are old, the water in the baths smell like sulfur because of the heavy minerals. It's very quiet in the bath house. You are then wrapped in blankets and sheets for 20 minutes as you nap... sometimes they'll open the window or the door so you can hear the rain, smell the fresh air. Once your time is up, you are lead into a massage area where you get an hour massage. Many of the masseuses are great, few are just ok. BUT some aren't very attractive and that can lead your thoughts in the wrong direction. So close your eyes and get one of the best massages in Oregon.
Once you are done, you can sit in a sauna for get dressed and head home.
I took many friends to this place and had two complaints in the 6 years I've brought people.
1. She complained because she was used to luxury!
2. The water in the tubs smelled like eggs.
This is a hiker's stopping place to relax... Great for the average hipster. Great for the open minded nature lover! Bad for rich girls/guys, snobs and people with high expectations.
It's a place to rejuvinate and relax! Put your mind at ease!
My negative thought.... booking - you can't book too early.
I never stayed in the hotel.
Absolutely amazing, I have never been so relaxed in my life. You have to understand though, it is meant to be old and rustic, so for those seeking modern luxuries, this place might not be a great fit.
My hubby and I had their summer special: a night stay, two baths/wraps and two 1 hr long massages-all for $180!!! I must say, I have problem skin and the mineral water did wonders to it.
We were accommodated by an attentive and pleasant staff. The hotel room was spacious and quiet-just what you need for a complete relaxation.
One word of advice: bring lots of water, you'll need to drink a lot after massages.
The hotel :
When you first pull down into the lot, there is a newer hotel going up on the right. It looks like it will be really nice, but it was not yet completed when we stayed there. Up to the left, on the hillside is another 'salt-box' type hotel where we stayed. The rooms were clean and had everything we needed for our 2 night stay - one day for white water rafting and the other day reserved for the spa. Rooms were an average hotel motel room, nothing special, but again clean and comfortable, including the bed.
The spa:
It was different. It looked like something out of the wild west instead of the early 1900's. The spa is attached to the check in area for the hotel and is a 3rd separate building that you face pulling into the lot. Very old architecture. Here is where people might differ.... we loved the style and the fact that it was different!
Yes, it is an old style mineral bath, take off your clothes, put them in a basket under 'your' cot, head over to the tub naked or in a towel and plop yourself into a long old fashioned tub with great hot mineral water. The bath room is a large size tiled room filled with about 10 tubs all circa 1900. I did freshen the tub with additional water 2 or 3 times during the bath. To fill it higher and mostly to warm it up again.
After the bath is the body wrap. You go back to your cot, lay down and are wrapped in blankets, sheets and towels to really let the heat build up and relax the muscles. You can ask for it lighter, medium or tighter.
You can get antsy laying there all wrapped up if it is something you are not used to. I did not notice too much and pretty much let myself go and fell asleep. The cot is surprisingly comfortable.
To finish off we had a massage in the back room which is walled off from the other areas. There was some relaxing music during the massage (they could use something in the other rooms as well). The massage covered all areas and any rough spots I had from the rafting the day before.
The attendant and masseuse services were great. You leave your tips in a basket for the baths or you can place that and the massage tip in envelopes inside the lobby of the hotel, where each service person has their own mailbox for tips.
If you enjoy old-fashioned rustic charm, and can imagine yourself laying back and relaxing, thinking how many people may have gone through here for the past 100 years, it is a nice place to visit.
If you want all the modern conveniences, fixtures and fancy spa pampering, you might want to try somewhere else.
If I lived in this area, I would personally make the baths a weekly or at least monthly visit.
I have been to many hotsprings. Never anywhere like this. I was pretty dissapointed. The water quality was wonderful, but the amenaties were needing serious upgrade I am sad to say. I think they have a wonderful commodity, but are not presenting it right.
You enter throw a door into the womens bathhouse. It looks like an old gym locker room from days bygone. After you soak, they take you in a back room full of cotts and wrap you in sheets and blankets and let you sweat... this is where I started to feel really freaked out. It was like an old hospital or jail.. staring at the ceiling, it was in obvious disrepair. Bad decorating and no music didnt help the athmosphere.
I think I will wait for them to redo the "resort" til I visit it again.
