About 32 miles from Denver sits a tiny hippy oasis
called Indian Springs Resort. Mud baths! Mineral
Springs! "Private jacuzzis with beautiful mountain
view!" This sounded like the makings of a relaxing
vacation!
The beautiful "mountain view".
When we arrived at Indian Springs, my first impression
was "this is it?" The building looks old. And I don't
mean old in a vintage or historic way. Just old.
Outdated. Not quite run-down but give it a few
years.It looks like a place that was really really
cool in the 1960's. It was built in 1905, so I'll
give them a bit of a break, but there are seriously
no frills here. It's not by any means dirty or gross,
just very very basic.
The staff of Hot Topic-loving
teenagers were not really helpful at all. Luckily,
I had checked the website before we got there and
decided on reserving a private outdoor jacuzzi,
in addition to doing "Club Mud" and getting a pass
for the mineral pool which totaled $45 each. There
was also an option of a nude geothermic cave spring,
but there are separate men's and women's caves, as
you must bathe nude. Being that I was traveling with
a male, I opted not to bathe alone.
The "mountain view" in the jacuzzi was hilarious.
Basically, the tub is outside, and the mountain goes
up at about a 90 degree angle. So, there's a wall of
snow...We were told there was a locker room outside in
our fenced off jacuzzi area, but it turned out to
really be just an outside corral. What a cold change
into my swimsuit! The resort has towels for rent, but
I suggest bringing a few large ones of your own, and
definitely bring flip flops to walk from your clothes
to the tub. The tub itself was ridiculously hot, but
cooled a bit after running the jets and throwing some
snow in there. The sensation of extreme hot and extreme
cold was actually pretty amazing. We had the jacuzzi
for an hour, and just kind of laid there and cooked
ourselves...letting the minerals do their work. Or
something.
After the jacuzzi, we ran as fast as we could back
inside, threw our clothes into the locker rooms
(lockers are for rent for 50 cents) and ran into
the Club Mud room. We were warned by Miss Hot Topic
that the mud was cold (this was NOT on the website).
The mud room reminded me of an outdoor patio. The
room is lined with pool chairs, hot air blowers and
a shower. The mud bath itself is surprisingly shallow.
I dipped my foot in expecting it to sink, but found it
only to be to my ankle. Instead of sitting in mud, you
stand in the tub and cover yourself using your hands.
It's cold. It stinks. A lot! I was brave and put it on
my face. After you are covered, you sit back in the
chairs, listen to the New Age music, and let it dry.
After about an hour you are a stiff mummy. The whole
process is hilarious. But I must say, after I rinsed
off, my skin was so smooth and radiant and lasted as
such for at least a week.
Shallow mud bath
The pool is fed by an underground geothermic spring
and stays between around 80 to 100 degrees. The pool
area itself is enclosed with a tin roof, and one wall
is the exposed mountain outside. A bar is attached to
the pool area and you can drink a beer while swimming.
Well, maybe you aren't supposed to but you CAN. The pool
itself is only about 4 feet deep, but is pretty large,
with the water source in the corner. I wondered why
everyone was huddled around the corner until I
discovered after they left that the nicest, warmest,
bath water like fountain was there, feeding the pool.
After a few hours, I was wrinkled beyond belief, and
decided it was time to leave.
I may sound like I hated this place, but actually
I loved it. I was just surprised because the website
is misleading, it leaves out a lot of information in
addition to making the resort sound like a place of
luxury. I felt amazing for days after my day of
relaxation, and $45 couldn't even get me an hour
of massage anywhere. Next time I visit, I plan to
stay over in one of their cabins, and get a hot
stone massage for my ailments.
For more information
www.indianspringsresorts.com
