Until I moved to Colorado, I wasn’t aware of its plethora of hot springs.
But if you spend any amount of time in the state – or do a google search of ‘best things to do in Colorado’ – you will quickly discover the popularity of the state’s many hot springs.
While there are a handful that are still wild backcountry adventures, most have been commercialized and visiting them is somewhat expensive. It’s more than we’re willing to pay for a random weekend outing, but for an occasion such as an anniversary, for example, we decided we could justify the splurge.
And so, about nine months in advance, I booked us a night at Mount Princeton Hot Springs.
We set off nice and early Saturday morning, and made it four minutes down the road before realizing that I assumed my husband would wear his hiking boots (he did not) and he assumed I had packed his hiking boots (I did not). We had plans to snowshoe to a lake before going to the hot springs, so that would have been a giant bummer.
More on that hike next week, I guess, since my brain has decided to write this post first.
After our hike and some pizza in nearby Buena Vista, we arrived at the hot spring around 3:00pm and immediately worried we’d made a huge mistake. The parking lots were overflowing, there were additional cars parked along the side of the road, and the pools were crowded. This was clearly not going to be the relaxing weekend we were anticipating.
But despite this rather poor first impression, we ended up having a lovely time! It just took a little strategizing. Leaving the crowds behind, we headed straight for the overnight guests only section of the resort. This area is home to three circular soaking pools of different temperatures and one large relaxation pool. It’s also ages 16+ and across the creek from the rest of the resort, so it was much quieter.
Honestly, it’s worth it to stay overnight for this alone. I personally wouldn’t pay $35 to spend the day hanging out with hundreds of other people in the other pools.
We spent the remainder of our afternoon soaking in these four pools, which range in temperature from 99-107°F (37-42°C). Have you ever immersed your body in 107°F water? It’s extremely hot! We had to start in the cooler ones and work our way up, and even then, we only lasted a couple minutes.
But the other pools, when coupled with the relatively cool air temperature (it was winter at over 8000 feet of elevation), were the perfect temperature for soaking.
The evening was spent relaxing in our room. We had leftover pizza from lunch and we’d brought a crowler from one of our favorite breweries. Even my phone charger deciding to go for a swim in a glass of beer couldn’t ruin our enjoyment of this delicious cherry coconut stout!
(For the record, it was one of those things I couldn’t have managed if I’d tried; the plug portion of the charger fell out of my electronics case and plopped right into my husband’s pint glass.)
Anyway, to get back on topic, we went to the on-site restaurant for breakfast the next morning and it was delicious!
Almost all of the pools open daily at 9:00am so, immediately after breakfast, we made our way down to the creekside hot springs. These pools are open to all hot springs visitors; we figured by arriving first thing, we would avoid the crowds. It worked. We had an entire pool to ourselves for the next 45 minutes!
Continuing our crowd-avoidance strategy, we then made our way up to the infinity pool, which is last to open each day at 10:00am. We arrived right as it opened, along with just a few other people. Neither of us had ever been in an infinity pool before, so I don’t have any basis for comparison, but I have to imagine this is one of the more stunning locations for one. It was my favorite pool at the resort, and a wonderful way to end our stay.
Mount Princeton and Mount Antero, by the way, are two of Colorado’s 14ers. Mount Princeton Hot Springs is located at the mouth of Chalk Creek Canyon – the narrow valley between the two summits. Chalk Creek Canyon earned its name from the light color and soft consistency of the rocks, which are largely made of silicate-based minerals derived from the naturally-occurring hot springs.
Although most of the pools at Mount Princeton are manmade, they are all filled with water straight from the hot springs. As we soaked in the creekside pools, we experienced the temperature fluctuations of a natural hot spring. Every once in a while, we had to move out of the way as a particularly hot spurt of water bubbled up, while the occasional burst of cold would swirl in from the rest of the creek.
All in all, we had a lovely stay and would absolutely consider returning to Mount Princeton Hot Springs for a future weekend. The winter weather was ideal for soaking and it was overall a peaceful and relaxing experience!
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