Took a trip to Mammoth Sun-Tues because my fiance wanted to ski. I got to take Tuesday to explore the hot springs in the Long Valley Caldera with 2+ feet of snow on the ground. I've only been to the Rock Tub and Siphon/Little Hot Creek so I wanted to see some others. Was really hopeful that Wild Willy's would be calm on a weekday morning and I was truly rewarded. Got up Tues morn and got to the gate for Wild Willy's around 8:30am. The hike with the winter closed gate was around 1.5 miles and the main issue was falling through the deep snow. When I got there it was fairly clean, just some small wrappers and two empty single use water bottles. Also it was totally empty and remained so for the whole time I was there.
I heard the mud is very good in that area so I did a mud bath. The sun was bright and there was no wind in the morning so i was able to hike in my shorts. Came back to my car and took some lunch in town then went back out around 1pm to check out Hilltop. Because the hike was shorter and the tub smaller it seemed like it was going to be more crowded and there was already a small family there when I parked but they were leaving as I was entering. When I got there I had the place to myself so I decided to drain the pool and refill it. I also picked up some small items of trash: a flip flop, beer can, swimsuit.
There were two pipes one with very hot water and one with not so hot. I really enjoyed the way this tub was constructed! By the time I began refilling the tub a pair of cross country skiiers were arriving, they passed on hilltop and kept going west looking for some other tub. Then 5 Argentinian guys came up and got in. Later a couple and another couple with a child came up and that's when I made my exit because everybody seemed to be a little grumpy about the crowding and wanted the place to themselves.