Arizona Hot Springs
Hike Review
Cassie and I hiked to the hot springs in the late afternoon, and it took us almost 4 hrs to get down to the hot springs and back. This is because it’s almost a 7-mile hike to the hot springs and back.
The hike down to the hot springs was a beautiful hike down a canyon. The hike back was done entirely in the dark, so we were not able to see much. The ground was gravelly most of the time.
The hot springs themselves were deserted except for two friendly men who explained to us the house rules of the hot springs. They explained to us that the highest pool was the hottest, with each successive pool being cooler. They also told us that while there are a lot of kids during the day, at night, there are usually only adults, and the hot springs were clothing-optional.
There were three pools, and our favorite was the middle one, as the top pool was much too hot for a prolonged stay. Each pool existed due to sandbags which were strategically placed to create 2-3 feet deep pools.
The hot springs did not have a strong sulfur smell. To get to the hot springs from downstream, one needs to climb a metal ladder. It was stable enough, but we did not trust it to hold both of our weight.
The parking lot had a few bathrooms and was well stocked.
There was a dispersed campsite downstream from the hot springs, and it was rather popular. It looked like most were kayaking down the Colorado River and were spending the night. There was one bathroom near the campsite, which I would estimate to be about half a mile from the hot springs.
We hiked to the hot springs in a counter-clockwise manner, and we found the route finding to be difficult when we got to the Colorado River. Thankfully, someone had spray-painted arrows to help guide us.
What Happened?
6.6 miles, 3 hrs 29 mins, 1153 ft of ascent
I had known that there were hot springs near Vegas, but I had not really looked into it before this trip. I found two hot springs nearby: Arizona Hot Springs (also known as Ringbolt) and Goldstrike Hot Springs. On a whim, we chose the former and started hiking the trail in the late afternoon.
The first part of the hike reminded me of canyon hikes that we had done in Death Valley, like Falls Canyon but smaller. Still, the sites were grand, and we loved the walk down to the Colorado.
When we arrived at the Colorado River, I took a few minutes to admire the dark waters of the river that I had read and heard so much about… this water that provides so much life to millions of people in the United States and Mexico. We hiked on and had to scramble around a bit before arriving at the hot springs.
We were introduced to the hot springs by these two nice fellas who were the only people there. We decided to match what these fellas were wearing and wore our birthday suits. We enjoyed the hot springs for about 30 minutes while staring up at the dark skies and stars through the aperture afforded to us by the canyon walls.
We then hiked back to the parking lot with our headlamps. I was a little worried about the possibility of thefts at the parking lot (since we had so much stuff in the back of our car), but when we got back to the car, we saw that no one had broken into our car. We also saw police officers driving through the parking lot, so that was rather nice. We then headed to Vegas for a well-earned dinner.
