Best Travel photos of 2008: Where we took you this year

In November, Times staff writer Hugo Martin looked for a cheap way to tour California's iconic ski resort Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, California. Among his finds: Wild Willy's hot spring, and here's what he had to say:

...We hiked along a wooden boardwalk to an open meadow, where hot spring water gurgled out of a fissure in the ground. The water trickled down to a 3-foot-deep pool -- about the size of a large hot tub -- that was lined with rocks and concrete.

We stripped down to our skivvies and climbed into the hot tub-sized pool, looking like throwbacks from Woodstock trying to commune with nature.

The magma-heated water drained the tension and aches from my muscles. A cool breeze rustled the short meadow grass. The only sound, besides our laughter, was the rippling of hot spring water.

More cheapskate fun. More priceless memories.

Photo: Snowboarder Tommy Fynn of Brisbane, Australia, rubs mineral-laced mud from the bottom of Wild Willy's hot spring on his face while enjoying the Eastern Sierra Nevada hot spot.