El Dorado Hot Springs, Arizona

When you want to be alone, or to stay with your family, a private bath may be the best choice.

However, most private baths lack a sense of openness in a closed space surrounded by walls.

I had thought that way since I knew an alternative option of “partially” private baths in the desert.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon is registered as a World Heritage site and at the same time one of the most popular tourist spots in the United States.

Photo by Airwolfhound - Grand Canyon - Explored (2014) / CC BY-SA 2.0

It can be said to be art of the earth that even now eats away geological layers that were created two billion years ago.

Phoenix, the capital of Arizona is known as a launching point for visiting Grand Canyon as same as Las Vegas.

El Dorado Hot Springs

It is an hour’s drive from Phoenix under the crystal blue sky.

The office of the campground looks like those in a hippie commune that consist of RV and humble shacks.

This facility has a mixed common bath and four private baths, and all of them are clothing optional.

The private baths look unique.

The premises are surrounded by trees, and you would find some trails in the bushes.

They are corridors to each private bath, and surprisingly, no doors are furnished.

It is so wide-open that anyone can get into it whenever it is, whoever he or she is.

This is a private bath, The Corral.

This is also a private bath, Desert View.

This is one of other private baths, The Sunset Area.

Gallons of clear spring water is provided into the stone-built tub.

The water temp is around 104 degrees and it does not have particular taste and smell.

The same water is poured into the small tub next to the big one.

From these two tubs, you would have a view of the seemingly unnecessarily private space.

It can be said that you luxuriously rent a part of the vast desert, but the boundary between it and the common space is ambiguous.

You are almost alone, but not completely alone.

That makes you feel the unlimited spatial extent.

Summary