wellness + fitness
WESTERN COLORADO IS HOT SPRINGS COUNTRY
TAKE A SOAK Words by Lexi Reich | Photo courtesy of The Springs Resort
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f you’ve ever dipped your toes in a natural hot
“When rain falls on mountain peaks near
spring, you know how deeply soothing and
the state’s geothermal regions, it seeps beneath
healing the water is. It’s no wonder why Native
the surface through porous rock, enabling it to
Americans have considered hot springs to be a
percolate deep underground. On its downward
sacred entity for thousands of years. Thankfully,
journey through the rock, it picks up a variety of
the West Slope has an impressive amount of
materials — everything from calcium to sulfur.
these mineral-filled pools — and they’re open to
As it moves deeper and is increasingly under
visitors year-round.
pressure, the water becomes hotter as it travels
Simply put, a hot spring is produced by the
ever closer to the earth’s mantle. Eventually,
emergence of geothermal heated groundwater
it encounters a large crack or thrust fault.
onto the earth’s surface. As Glenwood Hot
The heated water travels along the fault line,
Springs Resort explains:
eventually reaching the surface.”
