Space is plentiful in the world’s largest hot springs pool. As for solitude on the busy afternoon of our recent visit? For that, we stepped out of the Grand Pool, away from vacationing families and joyful kids, and walked over to the much smaller and hotter pools on the edge of Glenwood Hot Springs Resort. 

Now in the corner of a pool called Cascade Waters, all we could hear was the namesake waterfall. Now we could close our eyes and remember the message we saw by the entrance: “This is the perfect place to lose track of time…” 

And also a place to notice how time has progressed ー how the past blends with the present. 

The Grand Pool is just as it was when it opened July 4, 1888, to international acclaim. Spanning about 405 feet by 100 feet, the pool fed by an ancient, mineral-rich spring here by the Colorado River boldly proclaimed the “Spa of the Rockies.” It would be complete with the bordering Stone Bath House and luxurious Hotel Colorado steps away. The bath house and hotel still stand today, still serving as destinations that put Glenwood Springs on the map after the huge, steaming oasis between them. 

But now a boutique hotel occupies the Stone Bath House. And now those overnight guests along with day passholders can step over to Cascade Waters and four other pools called the Yampah Mineral Baths. And on the opposite side of the Grand Pool is the Sopris Splash Zone ー another addition of recent years. 

Said longtime Pool Manager Taylor Mays: “While the west end created an exciting family-focused area, the Yampah Mineral Baths on the east end of the property have created a relaxing, tranquil experience for those seeking an easygoing escape.”

We’ll catch you up some more on the present. But first, more on the past:

‘Embedded in healing’ 

The fenced-off source of the pools greeted us on the way in. Said to provide 3.5 million gallons of water flowing at 122 degrees every day, the spring is known as Yampah, for the Ute word meaning “big medicine.” 

Native people were displaced by settlers, one of whom was James Landis in 1881. He homesteaded 160 acres that included most of the hot springs known today, according to history maintained by the resort. 

He would soon sell to a Civil War veteran, Isaac Cooper, who envisioned a town and health spa. In 1885, the town was named Glenwood Springs for his native Glenwood, Iowa. 

The resort points to its history starting the next year, “when Walter Devereux, an engineer and silver baron, and his two brothers bought Yampah Spring and 10 acres of land from Cooper.” They would harness the spring to fill the Grand Pool and go on to build the bordering, sandstone facility of sunken Roman baths, a men’s casino and physician’s office. In 1891, construction started on Hotel Colorado ー another draw for the rich and famous. 

More so, everyday people are seen in historic photos posted around the resort, including those posted around another fenced-off spring: the historic drinking spring sought for the healing effects of calcium, magnesium, potassium and more. 

“This resort’s history is consistently embedded in healing,” Mays said, pointing to a period in the 1940s during World War II. A Naval hospital was set up at Hotel Colorado and the pool for recovering sailors. 

Mays pointed to another period in the ’50s: “a challenging period” financially, when “local business owners pooled together enough to purchase and keep the resort locally owned and operated,” he said. “These families still own the resort to this day.”

They would add a fitness facility and the Lodge at Glenwood Hot Springs Resort before turning to water-based developments of recent years.

Splashing and soaking 

The resort hailed Sopris Splash Zone as “a game changer” upon its 2019 debut, “add(ing) a whole new dimension to what you can do at our hot springs.” 

You can ride a tube down the twisting, turning Shoshone Chutes and wade in a waterfall-fed pool called Hanging Lake. The 7-foot Grand Fountain and surrounding splash pad rounded out the expansion on this side of the Grand Pool. 

In 2024 came the expansion on the other side: the Yampah Mineral Baths.  

Two cooler plunges offer the popular opportunity for contrast therapy. The three other pools range in hot temperatures and features ー from the waterfall of Cascade Waters, to the grotto of Falling Waters, to the infinity edge of Sacred Waters. All boast a view. And the pools are for adults only after 5 p.m. 

Said the resort’s president and CEO at the time of the expansion: “With these new pools, the resort now offers a complete end-to-end water experience, with a quieter and more refined option in Yampah Mineral Baths on the east end, the two historic pools in the center and the family zone on the west end.”

One might take to the swimming lanes or diving board of the Grand Pool, where most simply soak and socialize in the water listed at 93 degrees. The Grand Pool’s historic neighbor is the 100-foot Therapy Pool, listed at 104 degrees. 

Overnight options

Hotel 1888 is into its second summer of honoring the resort’s history and European inspirations. Inside the Stone Bath House where there were once Roman baths, a casino and a physician’s office, there are now 16 rooms that would probably make the building’s Austrian architect proud. 

The resort’s aim was elegant and romantic, with patterned wallpaper, high ceilings and big windows. The window in the high-end 1888 Suite looks over the Colorado River, while the Silver King Suite balcony looks over the pools. 

Hotel 1888 was announced last year along with a refresh of the 107 rooms at the lodge, catering more to families. And there’s the other historic, luxurious option: Hotel Colorado, which sells a “splash and crash” bundle.