What's Up with Michael: Fifth Water Hot Springs, Spanish Fork Canyon

Fifth Water Hot Springs is up Diamond Fork Canyon, which you get to about 10 miles up Spanish Fork Canyon. I don't know how many miles up Diamond Fork Canyon you go, but you pass a campground, the Red Rock picnic area, another campground, and a couple little "Day Use Only" parking areas. The trail is called Three Forks and is well marked on the road with a good-size parking area and outhouses. The parking area was almost full even on a Thursday afternoon on an almost-rainy day in June.

Once on the trail, turn left and follow the creek. Don't cross the creek; that trail goes somewhere else. Someone scribbled on the trail sign just over the creek, "Go back. This is not the hot springs." I had to wonder if someone was serious or playing a joke. They were serious.

The trail follows the creek about a mile; then it turns right across the creek and follows a smaller creek for about another mile and not quite a half. Overall, the trail climbs a bit, especially toward the end. I passed two guys on mountain bikes. The trail seemed like a great place to ride a bike, but I guess hiking is actually faster.

The bridge over the river warns of nude bathers at the hot springs.

I passed a couple of these little guys on the way. I understand there are also rattle snakes, but I didn't see any.

If you keep your eyes open you'll see the first set of hot pools to the right of the trail. I didn't keep my eyes open and went about a half mile past all the pools.

The middle pools are the easiest to see, because they're at the base of a waterfall. The hot water runs into this pool from a couple little springs at the back and on the left of this picture.

When I came down the trail there were some kids here and the boy was filling his drinking bottle in the waterfall. I told him he probably wouldn't enjoy getting giardia, and he dumped out the water and thanked me. I wonder how many people learn of giardia the hard way.

I soaked in the upper pool. This one is a bit tricky to find, but I think it's the best one. A couple hundred feet past the middle pool (the one with the waterfall), the trail splits. Take the right trail and it'll go right to this pool (and a pool connected to the right of the picture). The pool is about thigh-deep, so it's just right for sitting in with water up to your neck. The hot water bubbles up into the pool from the bottom and is pretty hot, especially if you stand on the bubbling water spouts. There's a hole at the top of the pool where cold water runs in from the creek. You can plug the hole with a towel (provided when I was there) to make the pool hotter, or open it to make it cooler. I plugged it, but the other wimpy guys thought it was too hot, so they unplugged it.

I'm not a social kind of guy and would normally like to soak and be quiet, but the other guys at the pool were fun to talk with. One kid from New Jersey had been living in Moab but was on his way to Jackson Hole to be an "arborist." He said that means he's going to work for a guy who cuts trees for people--he'll be the one who feeds the branches to the chipper. He just wanders around and gets cash work where he can. The other guys were brothers and cousins from Cedar Valley and Lehi.

There was only one naked person in the group (I asked him to hide behind the rock when I took the picture). I also passed a group of people on the trail down who looked like would-be skinny dippers, as I couldn't see that they had any bathing suits, and they seemed like free spirits. So I guess you need to expect that at this place.

But it was the kind of outdoor natural hot springs (rotemburo) that I tried to find in Japan. Beautiful setting, hot soothing water with a touch of sulfur and other minerals that make the water a bit milky and your skin silky smooth, and a nice hike to boot.