Tucked into a granite bend of the Lower Kern River, Remington Hot Springs is one of the last free, undeveloped thermal soaks in California's Kern River Valley — a cluster of hand-built stone-and-concrete pools stepping down a riverbank ledge in the Sequoia National Forest, about ten miles up Kern Canyon from Lake Isabella and the little town of Bodfish. Geothermal water bubbles up at the top of the ledge and is channeled through the pools in sequence, so the uppermost catch basin runs hottest and each pool below it cools a few degrees as it spills toward the river. On a cold morning the soak sits wreathed in steam with the green Kern rushing by just feet away and canyon walls rising on both sides — a genuinely spectacular setting for a spring that costs nothing to visit.

The springs take their name from the old Remington mining camp that once worked this stretch of the canyon, and the pools have been maintained over the decades by a loose community of soakers who patch the masonry and skim the leaves. There is no fee, no gate, and no reservation — the springs sit on Sequoia National Forest land and are open year-round. Reaching them is short but steep: a signed pullout on Kern River Canyon Road (State Route 178) drops onto a switchbacking footpath roughly a fifth of a mile down to the water, an easy descent that becomes a real climb on the way back out. The lot is small and fills fast on warm weekends and holidays.

Soaking is the main draw, and the pools are large enough to share; on busy days regulars trade off, and clothing-optional use is common, so families and first-timers may prefer a weekday morning. The adjacent Kern River is the reason to stay in the pools rather than the current. The Lower Kern is one of the deadliest rivers in the country — its cold, fast water and undertows have claimed hundreds of lives, and signs throughout the canyon mark the toll. Rope swings and rock-jumping into the river turn up here from time to time, but the Kern's flows and submerged hazards change constantly, and swimming in the main channel is genuinely dangerous, especially during spring snowmelt when the river runs high, cold and pushy.

Spring and fall bring the most comfortable soaking; summer days are hot in the canyon but the water is pleasant after dark, and winter is many regulars' favorite season for the contrast of hot pools against cold air. Bring water shoes for the rocky bank, a headlamp for the walk out, and a trash bag — the springs stay open only because visitors pack out everything they carry in. Fill the tank in Lake Isabella or Kernville before you come; there are no services at the pullout, and cell coverage in the canyon is thin to nonexistent.