Wild about Tiny Houses? Now You Can Rent a Tiny Sauna
This 8-foot trailer contains a tiny cedar sauna.
Portland loves cramped spaces, it seems. We’re already home to more than 500 food carts, the nation’s first tiny house hotel, a tiny massage cart, and a double-decker bus doubling as a dress shop, not to mention an abundance of ADUs. And now, stressed and chilly Portlanders can summon an 8-foot cedar sauna to their door for wellness retreats, birthdays, bachelorette parties, or any other gathering that might benefit from a small-group sweat sesh.
“I don't like to drink alcohol, and find that a lot of events in Portland involve intoxication,” explains Mobile Hotspot Wellness Center founder Anne Wolski, a former meditation and yoga instructor who currently works as a high school biology teacher. “I wanted to create a space that offered people a chance to build community and have fun in a healthy way.” (Of course, you might not want to drop $500 a day on a mobile sauna unless you’ve already built a community to share it with. But, hey, do you.)
Founded last November, the Portland-based Mobile Hotspot has already traveled as far as Silver Falls State Park, with plans for Government Camp and Seaside in the coming months. In addition to the Western red cedar sauna, which seats five to seven adults, the setup also includes a separate changing tent, cold rinse station, relaxation tent, and a table with water and towels. (C’mon, you didn’t think they could fit all that in one tiny trailer, did you?) Mobile Hotspot also offers yoga classes, massages, and Reiki sessions—all of which require their own space and added fees.
Of course, this begs the question: where would you actually have enough space for a trailer, two tents, a rinse station, a table, a traveling “yoga parlor,” and massage chairs? Well, judging by its Instagram account, Mobile Hotspot is intended for events held in the great outdoors, usually in the woods, possibly in the snow! (Side note: is snow yoga a thing? Snowga?) And while that explains the space issue, we’re a little skeptical that the “relaxation tent” or massage chair would all that relaxing in snow, rain, or even a mild windstorm.
Of course, by the time it gets warm enough to truly enjoy an outdoor wellness retreat—in other words, July—do you even need a sauna anymore? Can’t you just sweat outside? We have many questions. The only thing that we can confirm at this point is that “snowga” is definitely a thing.
