A Winter Soak at the Glenwood Hot Springs
Thank you to the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool for hosting our family for this day of fun.
We recently visited the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and we found it to be the perfect winter weekend getaway! Our kids aren’t old enough for skiing (at least not both of them) but we were still wanting to get up into the mountains for some quality family time and the springs were perfect!
We decided to make a weekend out of it and do a little overnight stay.
Glenwood Springs is about a 3-hour drive from Denver, Colorado, and and hour and a half from Grand Junction and the Utah border.
We decided to drive up the night before and stay in a hotel so that we could be well-rested and arrive to the pool early in the morning to make sure that we got good parking and lawn chairs.
But before the pool opened, we had to grab donuts at Sweet Coloradough and check out the Colorado River, both of which are not to be missed if you are ever in the area!
Glenwood Hot Springs Pool
The Glenwood Hot Springs Pool is set in the valley of Glenwood Springs along the Colorado River. The outdoor pool boasts gorgeous views of the mountains all year round.
Want to watch a video of our day at the pool? Check out our vlog here!
Our boys loved it. They both love to swim to begin with and they thought it was so cool to that the pool was hot and they could go swimming outdoors in the middle of winter!
The Glenwood Hot Springs Pool is sourced from the Yampah Hot Springs located on property. The Yampah Hot Springs were first discovered by the Ute Indians who gave them their name, which means Big Medicine.
The springs are considered a sacred place with healing powers. Many believe that the minerals found in the waters (15 of them in total) can have both physical and mental benefits.
The main pool is the largest hot springs pool in the world and contains 1,071,000 gallons of water. Can you even imagine? It took us 10 minutes to wade our way from one end to the other.
That main pool hovers between 90 and 93 degrees Fahrenheit and is perfect for kids. You can bring floats, toys and just swim around and relax.
There are two pools, the large pool and a smaller, hotter therapy pool. I loved taking a break and soaking in the therapy pool, which is kept at 104 degrees.
The pools are open all year round, rain or shine, and we visited in early February. It was below 20 degrees when we first arrived at the pool.
I was nervous that it would be too cold and we would be miserable, but as soon as we were in the water, it was perfect. The warm water kept us nice and comfortable and if our ears ever got frosty, all we had to do was dip them in the water for a minute.
Because of the weather, the whole pool was covered in a layer of steam and fog that made or an eery, but peaceful atmosphere. It was very Pirates of the Caribbean, but also made for a soothing, quiet morning.
We actually got confused when we first walked out from the locker room because there was so much steam we couldn’t see more than 10-15 feet from us.
We were so cold that we just hopped in the first pool we saw, which ended up being the therapy pool! The boys were shocked by the heat and we almost had a disaster on our hands.
We convinced them to try again once someone directed us to the proper pool appropriate for them! It was a close call and a good reminder to always be prepared when traveling with kids!
Once we got situated in the proper pool, there was no convincing the kids to get out. Even after hours and extremely prune-y fingers, we had to drag them out of the pool.
We played hide-and-go-seek, Humpty Dumpty off the side of the pool, piggy back rides around the pool and lots more.
I don’t know if it was the gorgeous scenery or the relaxing minerals of the pool, but time seemed to fly by for all of us. No one wanted to get out of the pool. And not just because it was nice and warm! We were having too much fun!
To visit the hot springs pool, you can purchase day passes, purchase various packages or book a stay at the connected lodge. Prices vary depending on the season and amenities.
If you are traveling from far away, or you just don’t want to worry about lugging wet towels home, you can rent towels at the pool for $2.50. We decided to do this and were happy we did! The locker rooms are also equipped with lockers for 50 cents to store your valuables, as well.
In the summer, you can even rent cabanas for some shade and extra space. There is also a water slide and kiddie pool and other amenities. We can’t wait to return in the summer! The pools sound like a great way to round off a weekend of hiking in Glenwood Springs!
We also can’t wait to check out the new lazy river and expansion set to open later this year.
If you want more ideas on how to get your kids outdoors in winter, check out this post.
Have you ever visited natural hot springs? If so, where? I think I’m going to make it our mission to visit a lot more!
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