Customers of fire-damaged Harbin Hot Springs in Lake County seek other soaking spots

After the massive Valley fire swept over Harbin Hot Springs last year, reducing most of the popular, clothing-optional resort to ashes, scores of devotees have made pilgrimages to pay tribute to the Lake County retreat. Hundreds more have emailed, phoned or visited the resort’s Facebook page, sharing in the loss of what many consider a spiritual home and community.

“People call from all over the world,” said Eric Richardson, who manages the resort’s public relations. Supporters have offered to help rebuild and have donated more than $200,000, which has been distributed to Harbin employees affected by the fire.

But until Harbin is rebuilt - when is not yet known - its former guests are seeking other places to soak away their stress. Two spots benefiting from that business are Orr Hot Springs in Mendocino County and Wilbur Hot Springs in Colusa County.

Tucked into a narrow, 27-acre wooded canyon 13 miles west of Ukiah, Orr Hot Springs is tiny by comparison and offers fewer amenities than Harbin, which had the capacity to host nearly 900 people and included a restaurant, cafe and market.

Orr Hot Springs has 26 rooms in rustic cabins and yurts and can accommodate up to 65 people at a time, owner Leslie Williams said. There are no stores or restaurants at the springs or nearby. But there is a well-equipped communal kitchen and dining room in the main building, built in the 1930s.

The facility normally is booked well ahead for weekends, but since Harbin has been shuttered, weekdays are now booked solid for the most part, he said.

Williams estimated up to 20 percent of weekday customers are former Harbin guests.

The clientele have expressed more interest of late in holding workshops and retreats at Orr, but its space for such events is limited, he said.

Wilbur Hot Springs owner Dr. Richard Miller said former Harbin guests also have been visiting his retreat, located on 1,800 acres near the border of Colusa and Lake counties. But it’s not made a big impact on bookings. Weekends normally are booked well in advance but weekdays continue to be available for last-minute appointments, he said. The spa books only about 50 people a day, ensuring it has a quiet, meditative quality. Like Orr, it has no restaurants or stores nearby but offers a kitchen and extensive hiking and bicycling opportunities.

“We’re more of a health place” while Harbin had something of a party scene, Miller said.

Both Orr and Wilbur hot springs are also clothing-optional.

Hot springs resorts that require clothing also have noted some visits from former Harbin customers, but not in significant numbers.

Vichy Hot Springs owner Gil Ashoff said a few Harbin clients have visited his more upscale Ukiah resort, which boasts rare, naturally carbonated mineral water and has attracted visits from the rich and famous. But Ashoff said he doesn’t expect much crossover from Harbin because his facility has a different vibe.

“We’re a different market than Harbin,” he said.

All four of the hot springs have histories dating back hundreds of years.

Native Americans utilized the waters for their healing properties before settlers moved in and turned them into resorts in the mid- to late 1800s.

The springs fell into disrepair in the early and mid-1900s, and then were revived in the 1970s by people seeking alternative communities and healthy lifestyles.

They have have been ravaged by fire.

Orr burned at least twice and was ?rebuilt, Williams said. It came dangerously close to burning again during the Mendocino lightning complex fires of 2008.

Wilbur burned down in 1903, Miller said. The main hotel also suffered major damage in a fire that ignited in a bedroom in 2014 and was threatened by the so-called Walker fire in 2012 and the Rocky fire in 2015.

A bar at Vichy was destroyed by flames that escaped a fireplace in 1943, Ashoff said.

Harbin, owned by Heart Consciousness Church, has burned at least four times, according to a history of the hot springs posted on its website. Its destruction in the Valley fire was nearly complete, leaving a garden shed, two new cabins toward the top of the hillside complex, an outdoor bathroom and most of the Domes complex, including , private guest rooms, a shared restroom, shower facilities and a guest kitchen.

About 60 of the resort’s 240 employees lived at the resort, so they were displaced both from jobs and homes. Altogether, the Valley fire burned 76,067 acres, destroyed 1,200 homes and killed four people.

As with other businesses and residents starting over, rebuilding Harbin offers an opportunity for improvements, including more modern, energy efficient operations, Richardson said.

“Now we’re in a space where we ?get to work with a blank canvas,” he ?said. “I would just ask for patience in ?that process. Regrowth will likely happen in phases and we’ll need time to do that.”