This Way to the Hot Springs!
We fell asleep to the sound of a rushing river and woke to the majesty of the white Chalk Cliffs. They were shrouded in a sort of “Lord of the Rings” band of fog that the bright morning sun was lasering its way through.
Most of Colorado is country, the way my hometown of Floyd is country, and so when I say we slept at a “Resort,” don’t get the wrong idea. The resort sits at the base of a mountain with nothing else around for miles, and the people who run it are so laid back that no one cared when we popped up our camper in the parking lot next to a picnic table and claimed it to be “home.”
Occasionally, what smelled like burnt rubber wafted its way into our make-shift camp, causing me to wonder what I left “on” in the camper. We first thought it was the mineral springs that bubbled up from the river below our camper, but later figured out it was the new Oriental rug covering the floor space of the camper.
It didn’t take long to discover the other reason for the laid back pace at the Princeton Mountain Hot Springs Resort. Soaking in the two large mineral spring pools is a deeply relaxing cure for whatever ails you. Besides the two pools – one at 99 degrees and the other at 89 – there’s a gas station (for those desperate enough to pay $3.39 a gallon), a lodge, a general store, and a restaurant with a full size stuffed bear and mountain lion, and the head of an elk by the fireplace.
After you go from the warming pool to the lap pool a couple of times, you can climb down into the river and dig your own little pool. There you can feel the hot spring water mix with the frigid temperature of the river, and if you dig your hands into the sand, you’ll see just how scalding hot the springs can get. You can prop yourself up in a Rocky Mountain boulder chair and watch the aspen leaves wave while you’re soaking…or think about the rugged mountain men of days long past before indoor plumbing who stumbled upon the springs and were able to bathe in the dead of winter.
Later, you might set yourself up in a lounge chair by the pool and write a blog entry while your husband writes a speech for the toast he plans to give at the wedding you’re soon going to in Aspen.
September 30th, 2005 2:18 pm
Hey, thanks for all the visits and comments! I’m blogging on a shoestring and apologize to all my blogger friends for not being able to visit their sites. I’ll have a lot of catching up to do when I get home! More soon….
September 30th, 2005 4:45 pm
WOW….it sounds wonderful. I wish I were there. xoox ps Have fun at the wedding.
September 30th, 2005 6:12 pm
Colleen, for a few minutes I was there with you, in the hotter spring. Truth be known, if I got into it I may never want to come out! That sounds like a good day; hopw the rest of the trip is as good.
September 30th, 2005 6:58 pm
I envy you!!! Your trip sounds wonderful! Hope you guys have a great time at the wedding. I’m still reading every day…just haven’t had a lot of time to comment. I’m enjoying traveling along with you in my imagination though.:)
September 30th, 2005 10:43 pm
Sounds divine! Hope the wedding is just as beautiful. A side note…I posted another song today and did it another way. I’m curious if you can get it on dial-up. Test this one for me when you have a moment and some speakers! Thanks. Safe travels.
September 30th, 2005 11:42 pm
Smiles for you all day long. ; )
October 1st, 2005 11:10 am
Wow, what a different and fun time in the fall. I will keep this place in the back of my mind for a future wanderlust pull.
October 1st, 2005 5:59 pm
Colleen, that sounds like a fabulous way to spend an afternoon.
October 1st, 2005 11:31 pm
Oh, that sounds divine. Thanks for taking us there.
October 2nd, 2005 1:44 am
Sounds like heaven. I guess the experience of mine that’s most similar is when Mary and I hiked to the floor of the Grand Canyon and soaked our tired feet in the cold Bright Angel Creek, with air temperature at 105F in the shade and 120F in the sun. Phantom Ranch, which used only evaporational cooling, kept to the cool 80s.
October 6th, 2005 12:05 pm
OMG! What a coincidence. Whenever I get back to CO, I stay at the Streamside B&B, just down from the hot springs.
I *love* the hot springs, and I *love* that they are not so highbrow as to be crowded or expensive!
I’m so lovin’ your pics, I gotta tell ya !
October 12th, 2005 3:08 pm
Hi Coll, I’m a little behind and reading all your blog entries from when you went away. Ironic that Joe and I were both writing wedding speeches at the same time! Love You,