And you may have guessed that the town is called Pagosa Springs because of the Pagosa Hot Springs, the deepest geo-thermal hot spring in the world. I never knew there were so many hot springs in this country. It seems like I’m finding them everywhere.
This is from street level, looking down on the San Juan River after parking my car.
Then just turn your head to the right and, voila, there is the hot springs resort.
Up at street level was this little volcano-like cone which was oozing spring water out the top. There were no warning signs (like you’ll hear about below) so I presume it wasn’t terribly hot. The rotten egg-like smell of sulfur in the air was evident.
The clear water cascaded down over these rocks to the river below.
I went down a sloped walkway to river level and and headed right.
I crossed a pedestrian bridge to get to the Hot Springs Hotel.
I looked ahead one month to a Wednesday in late September (after Labor Day). The cheapest room for two people was $219/night. Or you can splurge for the John Wayne Suite (or one of several others) for $619/night. Enjoy!!
Behind the hotel was one of the hot springs. There was a fairly tall wall around it and warning signs not to touch the water, as it is extremely hot. I could feel the heat rising off the pool of water, some of which was bubbling.
Out in front of the hotel was a huge chess board.
I noticed these tiny flowers as I got ready to cross the pedestrian bridge back towards town.
A very nice place, if you can tolerate the smell.
