Radium Hot Spring

Yesterday I woke up to BLUE SKY and SUN! We've been having a monsoon for the past week; it's been nothing but rain rain rain, so it was a real treat waking up to such beautiful weather. My two friends, Grey and Dawn, called my boyfriend, Adrian and asked if the both of us wanted to go to a hot spring. I had NEVER been to one, EVER, so I was excited about going there. Grey mentioned the name, and a quick google told me that it was just outside of Kremmling. Kremmling is about 37 miles away from Silverthorne, but it's a two lane highway.... yeah, the kind where you go in the incoming lane to pass. OH BOY. I HATE THOSE HIGHWAYS. On our way there, I had to slow down two or three times because I saw cars coming in my direction trying to pass someone in my lane. Scary.

We made a left on Trough Road, which is a dirt road (but it's paved somewhere in the middle for no reason for 1 mile or so??) and we went down the road about 12 miles.

Saw this cool rock formation on the way! This pic was taken when we left, it was sunny when we got there.

We drove to the first jeep trail on the right you see after you pass the 12-mile marker. There was no way that my little WRX would make the first part of the trail, so we parked on the side of the road and walked down it. If we had a jeep or a truck, we could had driven one mile down to where the road was closed, parked there, and walked. But alas, no. Damn WRX is too low.

We walked the one mile down to where the road was closed, passing this sign on the way:

Cool, a sign with bullet holes way out here. I feel safe.

Adrian and I walking. He's carrying my backpack for me. :)

The view.

Views again! We're still on the jeep trail in this pic

We made it to where the road was closed; there was a locked gate that we had to walk around, and we continued following this jeep trail. On our way, we saw this...

Yeah, that's probably why they closed this road for motor use.

I wondered out loud, "I wonder where they were going, and how the hell they fell down there??" and Dawn cheerfully proclaimed, "To the HOT SPRINGS! Let's go!"

Up close shot.

We continued down the trail, and saw another car...

Oopsie poopsie!

The trail was pretty long, we walked probably for like 40 minutes?? It was pretty easy though, all downhill and a mellow grade. We got to the river, and followed it to the HOT SPRING! YAY!

WE FOUND IT!

I was surprised to see other people using the Hot Spring, because when I googled it, it sounded like a pretty remote place that required one hell of a hike to get to, but turns out raft tours go by this place all the time, and these people just simply docked their rafts and went for a dip.

I followed Ollie, Dawn & Grey's dog, into the river first, and oh my god, it was ICE COLD.

Ollie going for a dip

I went to the hot spring and stuck my hand in there to see how warm it was, and it was actually really really warm. I was surprised, I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Adrian had this great idea that we all should jump into the river and then get in the hot spring. I didn't do it, the river was seriously way too cold, but everyone else did.

JUUUUUUUUUUUMP!

Grey in the spring. Notice the steep rock hill behind him, that's how we got there.
Pic by Dawn

Rafters going by.
Pic by Dawn

Me loving the hot spring.

The hot spring wasn't HOT HOT like a hot tub, it felt more like a bathtub. The water temp was juuuuuuuust riiiiiiiight. The only thing that separated it from the river was this rock wall:

The hot spring even had sand for the floor, and it was all even. That's just about as classy as hell as you can get for having an all-natural hot tub.

Adrian, me, Grey.
Pic by Dawn

Random guy jumping off the cliff. WEE!

The train went by.

Another shot of the train winding through the landscape

Dawn jumping in the river again

Ollie and Grey debating the temperature of the hot spring

We spent probably two hours there, or even three, and clouds started rolling in :( So we decided to be safe than sorry, and pack it up and go back to the car.

Adrian

One more picture of us before we leave!

Clouds. Boooo. :(

We scampered back up this steep rock wall to get back to the trail, and look at how far up we already are!

We decided to take a different way back to the car, and we were hoping it would be a more direct route. It turned out to be way faster, but way steeper and harder. OH MY GOD. I was panting and breathing like a fat kid.

This part was NOTHING compared to what lay ahead. It was even steeper, slippery and unstable.

I saw little cactus! I had NEVER seen one in Colorado before

Berries!

After 10 minutes of going uphill, we stopped to catch our breath and I snapped this shot...

Dang. The river's way down there. We made it back to the jeep trail in much shorter time than it took for us to get down there, and we actually got back right where the gate was. One more mile to go!!

Dawn's interesting hiking technique

Chupacabra!

Getting there....

OH YAY THERE'S THE CAR!!!!!!!!!

We were SO happy to make it back to the car, that was one hell of a hike, I won't lie! I'm so glad I had drinking water with me for that. We went the heck home, and just vegged out on the couch and watched the new Jersey Shore episode. Perfect way to end a fun day. We want to go one more time before winter comes, and we are definitely walking the shorter way. Hopefully we will have a truck of some sorts next time, to shave off that one mile walk!