This past weekend my husband, daughter, (old) dog and I went for a little road trip adventure to some hot springs in Utah that I didn’t even know existed until a few years ago. I was google searching “bathtub hot springs” when trying to find this one:
Spoiler alert: the bathtub in the photo above doesn’t come up on a google search (the springs feature above would take me several years to find), but Mystic Hot Springs did. I looked up the location and the establishment was in Utah; much too far for a drive for a weekend trip when we lived in Denver. I also didn’t have the time to make the side trip while traveling to and from my Zion retreat earlier this year. So, since we live on the western slope with closer access, we were able to book a one night stay at this unique, quirky, hot springs.
I consider myself somewhat of a professional soaker. I love hot springs and I’ve soaked at just about every one of them in Colorado. Some have been clothing optional, some have not, some unregulated and remote and others on every “Welcome to Colorado” visitors guide. I was prepared for anything visiting Mystic. I went in with no expectations, which is pretty much how I approach any adventure in my life, and therefore my expectations were exceeded.
I booked a camping spot for one night since we were traveling with our dog and there was only one cabin that allowed dogs. At Mystic you can camp (they have tent and RV sites), stay in a cabin, rent a room in the Mars Hotel Guesthouse, or stay in a bus. The tent sites have picnic tables, a fire pit and electric hook up and there’s a common grass area and bath house with showers and flushing toilets and sinks. There’s also a water pump and dish washing station. We opted to inflate an air mattress and sleep in the back of our car and use our tent for gear storage as temps were forecast for the 30s each night. You can pick whichever camp site you like when you arrive the cost is $30 a night per person ($15 for kids under 10) and includes unlimited soaking from check-in to check-out. The hot springs are open 24 hours so we had a more secluded experience later at night and early morning since the majority of the day-pass people come in the afternoon from what we witnessed.
I booked a stay here expecting weird and quirky and that’s exactly what I found. The welcome email I received, upon booking, told me to expect just that. Look, not everything is perfect here (which I prefer). There’s no food on site to purchase, but there are plenty of crystals and retro clothing items. They don’t sell firewood but there’s plenty of piles of wood in the form of rundown cabins. There’s buses that are empty and full of junk and peacocks roaming the property along with chickens. The emu’s and llamas don’t run free, but you can visit them on the other side of the guest check-in house:
Charlotte really loved the fact that there was also a kids playground which wasn’t anything fancy but between that and a bent hula hoop we found in the free box, she was entertained when we weren’t soaking.
OK, on to the soaking details. There are two large pools and six cast iron bathtubs. Of the two larger pools, one is shallow (2 feet deep) and features a waterfall created by minerals. The deeper, hotter pool, is four feet deep and better suited for adults.
We spent quite a bit of time at the larger lower pools because our daughter obviously liked swimming in the shallow pool and we could hang out in the adult pool and watch her. You can’t see the bathtub hot springs from the lower pools, and they were usually full, so we would just wait at the bottom until we saw people hike down from the upper pools and then one of us would book it to the top. The bathtub hot springs had the best views and more solitude, but they only hold 2 adults max and you obviously wouldn’t share them with a stranger.
I think most people who come to these hot springs come for the bathtubs because they’re so unique and they have the best views. Plus, when else do you get to soak in a hot springs in a tub that’s melted into a mountain of minerals? I can’t imagine this place on a busy weekend though as you’d never get your turn in them. Camping provided an excellent opportunity to get up early and get them to ourselves as well as staying up late and enjoying them at night. These were about as hot as the adult pool at the bottom. From the upper pools you can see where channels were dug and the hot water was just diverted to various pools. I'm not sure why they don't have more pools as there's obviously plenty of water supply.
I also rented a wide angle lens for my Nikon so that my husband could capture some photos of me in the springs when we had them to ourselves. I’ve been wanting a wide angle for awhile and my friend Lexi suggested borrowlenses.com so I picked the 10-24 f3.5 and was not disappointed. I truly think if you want to capture some of the best photos of this place a wide angle is a safe bet.
Honestly, I was expecting a more eclectic crowd than what we encountered. Besides meeting a man camping who had a cat on a leash, we really didn’t meet too many wacky personalities. People meeting and people watching is one of my favorite hot springs past times and I relish hearing people's stories. There were two moms and daughters we met who were on an adventure home from hiking the Wave. All four ladies were awesome and we enjoyed talking with them. They stayed in the bus called Big Ben and let us take a peek inside after they left Sunday morning. If we hadn’t had our dog with us I certainly would have considered renting a bus for nothing else but the sheer novelty of staying in one.
A bus stay would really be exciting, especially since your only lock for them is a flimsy carabiner.
The stay here is obviously what you make of it. Of course there’s things in need of repair and updating and they could add in more tubs to soak in and maybe stairs to climb uphill to get to the tubs. There’s only a port-a-potty by the springs to use at night and there’s a lot of funky things here and there. I joked that if my dad designed a hot springs that this would be what he would make. A come-as-you-are you can take-it-or-leave-it place where you can relax and unwind and be judgement free. Unless you’re naked, because it’s not a naked hot springs. There’s also no dogs or drinking or smoking in the springs. As far as family friendly destinations go, for one as hippy as this, most people around us were following the rules.
To me, Mystic Hot Springs is a hidden gem. It’s unique and the vibe is very laid back and the hot springs themselves are amazing. It was never worth the almost 8 hour drive from Denver for us, but now that we live on the western slope we can enjoy it as a quick weekend escape. I’d love to come back with friends and enjoy an epic weekend of camping and soaking. Also worth noting there is a Walmart in town if you need any camping supplies and the Frontier Restaurant in Monroe had a great breakfast we enjoyed before heading home. We made a point to stop at some scenic overlooks along the way and took our time enjoying the desert before heading home. We’ll definitely be back to this little piece of paradise tucked away off the highway in Utah!
