What is Kiln Floating Sauna at Navy Pier like? We sent a reporter to find out

A lone fisherman, bundled up like an Arctic explorer, jiggled his lure at the edge of Lake Michigan on Friday, getting few if any bites.

Two seagulls skimmed the ice-crusted water.

A crash, as a woman nearby cannon-balled into the lake.

A few moments later, Kristin Ziemke, 47, emerged, her face painfully pink but she felt “amazing,” she said.

Ziemke retreated into Kiln, a floating sauna, which opened Dec. 12 at Navy Pier Marina.

I joined her there. To get the full rejuvenating experience, a body has to experience both heat and cold, I was told.

“I recommend people take their time and listen to their body,” said Zoe Lake, the owner of Kiln and a former ABC News producer who got her inspiration for her sauna after a trip to Norway in early 2024. “If you’re feeling too hot in the sauna, get out. If you’re feeling too cold in the water, get out. It’s not a sauna competition.”

I listened to my 58-year-old body, and it told me: Hell, no, don’t get into Lake Michigan when it’s 19 degrees Fahrenheit outside!

So I stripped down to my shorts and stepped into the sauna, the scent of the cedar walls tickling my nostrils. The temperature varies from 185 to about 205 degrees Fahrenheit, Lake said.

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of saunas. For me, they are about as pleasant as sitting in a Sumatran jungle during a heat wave. But the folks at Kiln are gracious, the soft music soothing and it’s hard to beat the view of the city skyline, including the former Hancock Building.

But don’t listen to me. Ziemke and her boyfriend, Marko Dumlija, who live in the Loop, came to Kiln Dec. 14, returned again Friday and planned another trip there Sunday.

“It’s very healthy to do,” Ziemke said. “Also, Chicago winters are so long and you have to find a way to enjoy them.”

It was at this point that I had to tell Ziemke to repeat what she’d just said because the sweat pouring off my face had blotted my notebook paper.

A 12-minute stretch in the sauna was all I could take before I needed to cool down in the cozy lobby/changing area.

In the summer, Kiln docks at Gordon Lodge at Baileys Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin. It took five days to get the sauna from Wisconsin to Navy Pier, a journey that was partly by water and partly on the back of a flatbed truck.

But why Navy Pier?

“I just wanted Chicago and this was a place that was open to me doing it,” said Lake, who lives in Lake View.

Lake said business has been good, but that she hasn’t yet launched her full reservation schedule. She said guests can book at least through early May. After that, the sauna heads back up to Wisconsin for the summer. Prices range from $50 for a 45-minute “public social session” to $500 for a 75-minute private group session. The sauna can fit six people.

I spent a couple of hours at the sauna, never brave/foolish enough to jump in the lake; Ziemke and Dumlija did so a total of four times during their Friday visit and took delight in the fact that it was considerably warmer outside than during their last visit when it was only 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s nice and hot, and you cool right away [after a jump in the lake]. It’s very therapeutic. You feel very refreshed,” Dumlija said.

Sure, if you say so.

As I made my way back up the marina ramp, the warmth of my newsroom beckoning, I remembered I’d promised my editor that I would at least dip a toe in the freezing water.

Damn.

So I turned around, got back into my shorts and lowered a foot into the water. For a split second, I even considered lowering my entire body into the lake.

But then, an imaginary newspaper headline flashed in my mind: “Chicago Sun-Times reporter takes dip in lake, suffering fatal heart attack and leaving behind a wife and two small children.”

Thinking of others first, I climbed out, got dressed and headed back to the newsroom.