Saturday, January 30, 2016

Monroe, UT(Mystic Hot Springs!)




Have you ever taken a chance on something and then completely regretted it? That almost happened to me. I have never heard a whisper of this place from even a stranger and yet we just happened to decide it would be a good idea to drive three and a half hours to spend the day at a place we had no confirming idea of what it would be like. We drove into a tiny town at 10 am called Monroe, Utah in search of a place called Mystic Hot Springs. The road suddenly turned into mud as we passed a row of hippie busses and a few old cabins. There was not a soul in sight. We signed in and paid by sliding an envelope under the office door. We wandered around and then climbed up a steep hill(pictured below) to see this view(above) of course most of our doubts were immediately soothed, and even more so after we climbed another hill to find an array of vintage bathtubs with clean, hot, spring water flowing out of them. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. I think my jaw dropped. Even further up a hill we found a greenhouse that was watered and heated by the mineral hot springs. It also seemed as if at least one of the cabins was heated from the springs as well as a fish/duck/goose pond., which was in turn one of the most annoying things about this place. Talk about angry geese/duck fights! All in all the pros out weighed the cons. Best things about Mystic Hot Springs:
(A) They're open 24/7!!! That's right, you can come any day, anytime!!!

(B) The water comes direct from the spring and is not treated in any way! The two hot springs I go to most often, end up leaving my skin very itchy and dry, even after showering! But this water was absolutely amazing. It left my skin feeling softer than ever AND NO itchy/dry skin!!!

(C) As mentioned above there were no other people! It was only when we were about to leave after hiking around, exploring, that two other groups of people came. Other than that we had the WHOLE place to ourselves. 

(D) If you feel adventurous enough you can camp at the hot springs. They have campgrounds you can use OR stay in one of their many camper (hippie) busses or and old pioneer cabin. Your pool pass is already paid for in turn!

(E) This place is not for people who prefer normalcy or an up-scale run business and yes, I count that as a pro, because I'm all about these independently owned and unique places that want to give you an experience you haven't had before!  















On our way home we made a quick turn-off towards Capital Reef. We drove for about half an hour and stopped for this view before turning back. If you look close you can see capital reef on the left(it looks like a giant orange castle).