In a previous article I described Los Hervores, a hot spring located 50 kilometers due west of Guadalajara.
Although the twin geysers which used to be the hallmarks of the place are no longer to be seen, I figured camping alongside the hot river should offer some spectacular vistas in the wee hours of the morning.
Somehow, I rounded up a dozen people willing to give it a try and off we went late on a Saturday afternoon. As on my previous visit, my companions gave me “murderous” looks upon our arrival at the seedy, run-down balneario (water park): “This is the place? You’ve got to be kidding!” Once again, I was able to calm the waters by leading my friends to the area of thermal activity. Here they were fascinated by the noisily boiling source of the hot water and the bizarre patterns and colors of the algae in the little stream which runs from here to the swimming pools.
Soon everyone was busy pitching a tent, with no more complaints. Once camp was set up, it was dark and we headed for the balneario to soak in the thermal waters. I’d hoped that by this time the pools would be empty, but one die-hard bather was still lingering there, enjoying music blasting from a nearby car with wide-open doors. Once he departed, we had the whole place to ourselves, with no lights to be seen anywhere, except for a few candles we placed around the pool. In the cold night air, the hot water felt marvelous, not to mention the great view we had of twinkling stars above us.
Afterwards, we sat around a roaring campfire eating dinner, including small potatoes which the kids cooked in the boiling stream. Then we all became stargazers. Astronomers take note, the campsite is in the middle of a wide, flat area offering a dazzling view of the sky from horizon to horizon, with no bright lights from nearby towns. What an experience!
Since we were still in the throes of the Jalisco “winter,” I had brought along my thickest sleeping bag, but after a little while, I got back out of it because I was feeling uncomfortably warm. Then I put my hand underneath my sleeping pad and would have jumped if I hadn’t been lying down. It was hot under there! Then I felt under the knapsack next to me and heat was accumulating there too. I had obviously pitched my tent on a hot spot, which at first seemed to me a great idea, but, over the course of the night, the temperature under my Therm-a-Rest reached about what you’d expect from a heating pad set on high. It was too much of a good thing.
So, crawling out of my tent at sunrise into the cold air of a winter’s morning, something I might normally dread, turned out this time to be a real pleasure – definitely a unique experience for me!
Huge clouds of steam were rising all around us in the grey dawn, a bizarre landscape worthy of a Gothic novel. I suggest that future visitors take advantage of the first half hour of light to follow my “Spooky Loop Los Hervores” trail, which you can see on Wikiloc.com. It’s only 1.1 kilometers long, but at dawn, the play of the sun’s rays through the branches of the acacia trees, enveloped by the rising vapors, will leave you with an impression you won’t forget.
Once again the kids in the group volunteered to cook eggs in the hot water. A metal steamer attached to a cord allowed them to get the eggs into the most ferociously boiling spot, where I’d suggest you leave them seven minutes to be perfectly soft-boiled or 12 for hard-boiled.
By 10 a.m. we had packed up and were ready to leave, just as the first domingueros were arriving at the balneario.
A local ranchero told us that the geysers had probably disappeared due to the drilling of a water well nearby. “Y no sirvió (it was all for naught),” he told us, “because the corn we irrigated with that geyser water didn’t even grow as tall as one of these niños.”
The well has been sealed up and, together with the local people, I hope that Jalisco’s only geysers will someday be back. But even if they don’t, Los Hervores is still a unique and fun place to camp.
How to get there
Take Highway 15 (Nogales and Tepic) 25 kilometers from the Periférico to highway 70, heading southwest towards Ameca. After 17 kilometers, you’ll pass the Tala sugar refinery. Keep going straight another 15 km where you’ll hopefully see a sign saying La Vega. Turn right here (N20 34.448 W103 51.411) and go through the town of La Vega and straight on until you come to the cemetery (panteón), 1.3 km north of the highway. Turn left, pass over a cattle crossing and drive 2.6 km NW, following rustic, beat-up signs to the final turn. Here, at N20 35.846 W103 52.919, where a sign is really needed, there is none, but you’ll see “Los Hervores” as graffiti on an electric power pole. Turn right here onto a dirt road heading north. After only 831 meters, you’ll reach Los Hervores Balneario. To reach the thermal area ( N20 36.257 W103 53.137) and campsite, turn left and drive 500 meters west. Driving time from Guadalajara: about one hour. See Wikiloc.com for the driving route (GuadHikes – Los Hervores Geysers).