Mount Princeton Hot Springs

The hot springs here are fed by water that percolates deep into the earth, is warmed by the region's geothermal heat, and rises back to the surface along fractures in the rock near Chalk Creek. The result is mineral-rich water that emerges hot and mingles with the cold snowmelt of the creek, creating a natural gradient of temperatures.

The signature experience is the creekside soaking pools, ringed with stone, where the balance of hot spring water and cold creek water lets you find a comfortable spot. Because the creek runs high and cold with spring snowmelt, these pools shift with the seasons, and the surrounding resort also offers larger developed pools that soak comfortably year-round.

Rising above the springs are the striking Chalk Cliffs, pale slopes on the flank of Mount Princeton that look like chalk or snow from a distance. They are not actually chalk but a soft, weathered rock stained light by the same kind of hot mineral waters that feed the springs, a geological signature of the geothermal activity beneath the range.

Mount Princeton itself is one of the Collegiate Peaks, a run of fourteeners in the Sawatch Range named for universities, that also includes Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. Together they form one of the highest and most concentrated groups of tall peaks in the Rockies, and the springs sit at their feet, a warm reward within sight of some serious mountains.

The Ute people, whose homeland this valley is, knew and used the healing waters of the region long before the mining era. In the late 1800s, as prospectors and railroads pushed up the Arkansas valley toward the mining camps of the Chalk Creek canyon, the hot springs became a popular stop, and a grand resort hotel once rose here to draw travelers to its waters.

That first golden age faded with the mines, and the original grand hotel is long gone, but the springs endured and were developed again into the retreat that operates today. The valley around it is dotted with the ghosts of that mining past, including the well-preserved ghost town of St. Elmo farther up Chalk Creek, one of the best in Colorado.

The Upper Arkansas valley is an outdoor playground, with the Arkansas River offering some of the finest whitewater rafting in the country, the Collegiate Peaks luring hikers and climbers, and hot springs to soak away the effort. The nearby towns of Buena Vista and Salida are friendly bases with good food and easy river access.

Summer is the busy season, warm and bright, ideal for pairing a soak with rafting or a peak. Fall paints the aspens gold across the range. Winter turns the valley crisp and quiet, and there are few pleasures quite like soaking in steaming water while snow falls on the surrounding mountains. Whatever the season, the pools stay warm and the peaks stay grand.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.