God's Bath (Clavey River)
Clavey River (Stanislaus National Forest, near Sonora) · near Sonora / Groveland · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Swimming & Hot Springs
At a glance
- Temperature
- 55–68°F
- Cost
- FREE
- Season
- Mid–late summer only (low flows) · Lethal in spring runoff
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Safety
- This is an adventurous, hands-on approach: steep descent, boulder scrambling, and (for the full experience) a rope-assisted ledge and a swim through a rock tunnel. NO JUMPING is posted at the bridge for good reason — people have been badly hurt here. Go at low water, with company, and leave the cliff-jumping bravado at home.
Swimming & Hot Springs detail
- Nickname
- The Tunnel-Swim Legend
- Type
- swimming-hole
- Temp
- cold
- Clothing optional
- No
- Directions
- From Sonora area: Buchanan Rd → Fish Hatchery Rd → Cottonwood Rd (FR 1N04) ~12.5 miles to the Clavey River Bridge; park past the bridge. Descend the steep path behind the railing, then boulder-hop ~0.5 mi upriver (no trail — the river is the route) to the pools.
- Pools
- A sculpted granite cathedral: a waterfall plunging into a deep, clear pool beside 'the bath' — a perfectly cylindrical pothole carved by millennia of erosion — with a swim-through tunnel exit that gives the place its mythic status.
- Intl tip
- The Clavey flows into the Tuolumne — this corner of Stanislaus National Forest pairs with Rainbow Pools (Hwy 120) and a Groveland stop on the way to Yosemite. Cell service dies early on Cottonwood Road; download maps.
The guide
God's Bath is the Sierra swimming hole of legend — a stretch of the wild Clavey River (one of California's last undammed rivers…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to God's Bath (Clavey River) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.943, -120.09