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A little mudslinging does a body good - "Here we are," announces Ramona, my white-uniformed, pink-lipsticked spa attendant as we round a corner from the changing room to the mud baths at Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs in Calistoga--the volcanic-mud capital of Northern California. She gestures to the tubful of thick brown glop bubbling and splattering nastily across the white tiles, then takes a shovel and turns the steaming messover a few times. Omigod, I think, it has bits in it."Hand me your bath towel and hop in," she coos with a barely disguised smirk of amusement. Yeah, um, right. Hesitating, I try to purge my mind of all the filthy thoughts that surface as I look into the murky depths: slimy ditches, barnyard troughs, exploding septic tanks. The mud continues to belch and Ramona continues to look amused.

Naked, apart from a white towel turban, I sit on the edge of the tub, gingerly slide in one leg, and feel the hot muck squelching between my toes and then ooze boldly everywhere else. "Don't worry, you're not going to sink," assures my trusty attendant, noticing my worried glance. I swear I see her lips twitch. "It's only three feet deep."
Sonoma County Independent January 14-20, 1999

A Few Good Spas - Before it was wine country, Napa was spa country. The natural hot springs, volcanic mud and mineral waters were used by Native Americans to soak away pains centuries before the first cabernet cuttings arrived. Today, a spa visit is the focus of many Napa weekends. Most of the many spas offer mud baths and massages, while some offer Ayurvedic treatments and services like salt scrubs and seaweed wraps.
myprimetime.com

Calistoga and mud go way back - You look at the concrete tub full of mud and go "yick." Then you ease -- no, force -- yourself into the thick black goo, which is uncomfortably hot and covers you from toes to neck.

First thing, your nose starts to itch.

That giant sucking sound? It's your arm pulling free of the mud to scratch it.

Twelve minutes later, you're cooked: Time to move on to the shower, the whirlpool, the steam room, the cool-down room, the massage table. When at last you wobble out the door and into the Napa Valley sunshine, grinning like a kewpie doll and feeling like a million bucks, chances are you will have forgotten all about those initial moments of doubt -- as well as that $100 dent in your checkbook.
Bee Travel Editor Janet Fullwood

Wine and Mud in Napa
Mud was on our minds. We imagined its weight, its density, its smell. During the long month leading up to our three-day February getaway, my friend Karrie and I anticipated our trip to the Napa Valley in a string of eager e-mail messages. Napa, with its natural mud baths and hot springs, is no news to Northern Californians, of course -- for them it is weekend getaway central, as Woodstock or the Hamptons are to New Yorkers. But Napa was a novelty for Karrie, recently transplanted to San Francisco, and for me.
Frugal Traveler, Daisann McLane

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