Walker, CA — Judie Parish of Fresno, CA hadn’t been on vacation for over four years. Over the years, she had made a point to take at least one week to herself, but due to the constraints of owning her own business, she didn’t have the time.
This year, Ms. Parish put some time aside to do something she always wanted to do: soak in one of the many hot springs that dot the Eastern side of California’s Sierra Nevada.
“I run four Papa Murphy’s in Fresno, and that’s a lot of responsibility. But this year, I let one of my managers run the show, which got me out of Dodge. It’s a dream come true. Just me and various natural hot springs.”
Determined to get away, Ms. Parish studied several websites to find the perfect hot spring. She finally settled on several near Walker, CA. However what she didn’t know, as she slipped into her first vat of near-boiling, briny water, this that the heat source was a massive volcano directly under her ass.
“It was so refreshing and natural,” continued Ms. Parish recounting her stay at Fales Hot Springs. “It’s nice to know you can relax without all those hot tub chemicals. I don’t know how it works, but let’s say I’m glad they’re here.”
Long Valley Caldera is a depression in eastern California that is adjacent to Mammoth Mountain. The valley is one of the Earth’s largest calderas, measuring about 20 miles long, 11 miles wide, and up to 3,000 feet deep. After four substantial magnitudes six earthquakes rocked the Long Valley area of eastern California in May 1980, U.S. Geological Survey scientists also detected evidence of renewed volcanic unrest in the region and expect small to medium-sized eruptions soon.
