Four Mile Creek Bed and Breakfast

Swimming outdoors in January in Glenwood Springs

by eric_ives

"A great place to stop for a swim in Colorado"

The evening of our third day driving from Santa Cruz, CA to Urbana, IL we stopped for the evening in Glenwood Springs. We had originally planned on going from Green River, Utah all the way to Denver on this day, but we spent extra time in Arches National Park and it started to snow as we got into the mountains, so we got off the slick winding roads and stopped at the Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Lodge. This was a lucky decision.

"Swimming in Hot Springs"

We had a fantastic dinner of Chinese food from a place right on one of Glenwood Springs' main streets. We also went swimming in the Hot Springs pool. This was a tremendous experience. The water was warm, almost as hot as I like my bath water, even though snow was falling. Also, the water is naturally clean, coming right out of the ground, so there was no chlorine odor or chemical feel to the water. Well, the water was full of minerals and rather salty, so it did have a special slippery feel to it. But it was fun.

"The Hot Springs Pool"

The Hot Springs pool is free to guests at the Hot Springs Lodge. The Lodge is not too expensive, and since we swam on the night of January 4th and the morning of the 5th I feel we had a good deal. Most of the pool is shallow- about four feet deep. There is a deeper area for swimming laps across the width of the pool. This pool is huge. With the vapors coming off the water we rarely could see across it, let alone look down its immense length. There was also a smaller very hot pool, a bit hotter than I like my bath, but good to use in preparation for the run through the freezing air into the locker room when your swimming is done.