Info for the hiking public

There is a public hot spring located in the National Forest in a pretty meadow, across the south fork of the San Joaquin river from our resupply area. There is not a bridge or a guaranteed safe way to cross the river especially during high runoff, and if you choose to cross over and use the hot spring you do so at your own risk.

We are happy to haul out trash, and take a couple of tons out per season in the interest of helping keep the forest clean. (Wag bags and dead fish are your responsibility.)

Unfortunately our venerable septic system and water infrastructure cannot support the extra tens of thousands of uses over the course of the season to serve the hiking public, and we therefore do not have a public restroom.

We do not sell showers. We can only haul in a limited amount of propane to our remote off-road location. This makes it possible for us to offer hot showers to the number of people who are staying with us in our cabins, but we can’t support enough showers for an extra few thousand uses per season.

Nope, our small kitchen can support foodservice for folks who are staying with us only. 

We do not have a campground set up on the ranch’s property, but there are free primitive wilderness sites always available nearby in the National Forest.

We don’t have enough bandwidth to support everyone’s personal device. 

Because we don’t have a phone.

Verizon-based carriers do not work anywhere in our area. AT&T-based devices sometimes get a signal about 10 miles west of Florence Lake.

We are located deep in the wilderness and it is close to impossible to transport large quantities of food and supplies in to MTR, and difficult to keep reliable off-grid electricity going.

There is not even a road to MTR, so you can’t leave your car here. The closest place you can park is at the northwest end of Florence Lake.

The Forest Service recommends using the Recreation.gov website to book your permit. If you are entering through Florence Lake, the trailhead is identified as J57. 

If you need to get to the eastern side of the Sierra to the Bishop and Mammoth area, you could hike over Paiute Pass depending on trail conditions. From our location it is 20 miles by trail to the end of Hwy 168 at North Lake. You can hike the 5 miles to Florence Lake, take the ferry, and then either try to hitchhike to Fresno or book the VVR shuttle in advance for a ride to Fresno. 

No pets are allowed in the Park.

Maybe. But, it probably won’t be possible to communicate with the Forest Service to check permit availability and obtain the permit on short notice. 

If you feel like a 10-mile round trip hike you can park your car at Florence Lake, take the ferry across, hike into our general area and visit the public hot spring, but we do not rent any of our facilities by the hour. Make sure you plan for when the last ferry of the day is, or be prepared to hike an additional 4 miles around Florence Lake.