Colorado hot-spring soak so much sweeter in private
Photo by Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
By Douglas Brown, The Denver Post
Hot springs? Yes, you swim laps at Glenwood Hot Springs every fall, and barrel down the long slide at Mount Princeton Hot Springs in Nathrop at least once a year. You soak in nature at Strawberry Park Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs, and one time, long ago, you waded au naturel at Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway.
When it comes to Colorado hot springs, you get it. You've done it.
Yes?
No, soaker.
Every time you hit the springs, you swim with strangers: kids doing cannonballs into the swimming pools, bleary-eyed partiers slowly melting into the water, couples pinned together in a corner. You close your eyes, you toil to just sink into yourself, but then a Nerf ball bonks you in the head.
Here's what you need to do: Rent a place that comes with its own private hot spring. It can be a cabin, or a mountain chalet. It can be a lodge, where the spring isn't entirely yours, but at least your paperback won't get soaked by a rogue bellyflop.
I first discovered the pleasures of the private hot spring during an anniversary weekend with my wife, Annie, seven years ago. We'd heard about Antero Hot Springs, an assortment of cabins beside the Chalk Creek in Nathrop. Each cabin had its own private soaking tub.
"That should be nice," we agreed.
Well, that nice amenity ended up becoming the burning sun around which our fall trip revolved. During the four-day visit, one of them involved about 12 hours in the tub.
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