With 3 days off we figured that was enough time to explore Zion national park and a few hot springs. Later this summer the Zion area will be getting its own hot springs, made by World Springs who also have springs resorts in Glenwood springs and Dallas. We’ll have to come back and try that but for now Zion is an amazing national park to see. You could spend a week here and not see all the amazing views and hikes in Zion
There are 2 commercial airports about an hour from Zion, st George or Cedar city.
After Zion national park we drove about 2 hours north to Monroe Utah. Monroe is home to mystic hot springs. You’ve probably seen pictures of their tubs surrounded by and overgrown with orange calcium rock which the water here is rich in.
Besides the tubs which sit up on a hill with a great mountain view, there are 2 pools just down the hill, one of which has a huge orange arch of stone sprinkling water into the pool. The whole place has a kind of hippie, 60’s farm kind of feel. You can spend the night in one of several old broken-down buses, or in a pine cabin. The fee for a 2-hour soak is $ 28 and reservations are required. Find out more and reserve at https://mystichotsprings.com/
Now we were off for another 2-hour drive North towards Provo, to hike to a popular primitive hot spring we had heard about, the Fifth Water.
Near Spanish fork Utah, is Fifth water. 10 miles down a side road brings you to a parking lot where you leave your car and walk 1 mile down the road to the trail head. From here it’s a 2.3-mile hike which goes through the woods along the fifth water creek. The hike is beautiful and there are several small little falls to see along the way. When you reach the hot springs, there is a waterfall and the springs are in pools of varying temperatures next to the creek. This spring is pretty popular so you’ll probably hear people in the water before you see it. You’ll defiantly smell it first too, since it has a sulfur smell.
The hike is moderately challenging, with some elevation gain, so make sure you plan for enough time for an hour and a half hike back before sunset, you don’t want to do that trail in the dark.
p.s. on our way to Utah, we had a one-night stop in Bozeman mt, so we visited our favorite stop in Montana, Bozeman hot springs. It’s been a few years since we last visited, and we noticed the new building with new entrance, café and locker rooms
It’s still a great place to soak under the stars with the blue lit pools and walls of fire around the edges.