Strawberry Park Hot Springs

Stone Built Terraced Pools In Forest Seven Miles Above Steamboat Springs, Reached By An Unpaved Mountain Road, Where Geothermal Water Is Channelled Down A Series Of Masonry Basins Beside A Cold Creek. Clothing Optional After Dark. · Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Seven miles above Steamboat Springs, up an unpaved road that genuinely needs four-wheel drive or chains in winter, geothermal water surfaces in a forest clearing and has been channelled into a terrace of stone basins beside a cold creek. The masonry is the thing - dry-laid rock pools stepping down the slope so that the water cools as it descends, hottest at the top and mild at the bottom, with the creek running past for anyone who wants the shock. There is no chlorine, no roof and, historically, no card machine. After dark it becomes clothing-optional, which is stated plainly and catches out visitors who did not read ahead. There are cabins, a caboose and canvas wagons to stay in, and no phone signal at all, which is a good part of the appeal. In winter, steam coming off stone basins with snow on the banks and aspen around the clearing is the version of this place that people remember for years.

44200 County Road 36, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, 80487, United States

Open daily year-round, from mid-morning until late evening, with the pools operating in all weather. THE ACCESS ROAD IS THE WHOLE PROBLEM - seven miles of unpaved mountain road that requires four-wheel drive or chains in winter, and shuttles run from Steamboat Springs for exactly that reason. CLOTHING-OPTIONAL AFTER DARK, and children are not permitted in the evening. Historically cash-only with no phone signal; day visitor numbers are capped when the car park fills.

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