This weekend Travis and I were invited to go with Jessi and her husband Dave to go for a hike up to Fifth Water Hot Springs. That sounded super fun, so I looked into it. Turns out, Fifth Water Hot Springs is located in Spanish Fork Canyon...up Diamond Fork....WHICH is where we went camping over the summer (which you might remember from the previous post, 2016 Overview Pt 1). We got pretty excited when we realized that we knew RIGHT where that was at!
A little about Fifth Water.
It is a 2 1/2 mile hike that leads you to a natural hot spring & waterfall in the middle of the mountains.
If you don't know what a hot spring is, it is basically a natural spring that is created from heated groundwater that comes from the earth that has tons and tons of natural minerals. Many many people soak in these natural "hot tubs" and allow the minerals to soak into their bodies. And they do it all year long, whether its summer time or snowing outside! I knew it was going to be cold, so I looked at reviews to see what to expect. A lot of people that went in January, when we were having legit snow storms, said the hike was great. They did mention that during the winter the gate that will take you to the trail head was closed. With it being closed, that means you have to walk to the parking area & trailhead from the road little ways down. So essentially your hike is doubled because of it.
I called the Park Ranger number and the automatic voice said that the Diamond Fork gate was open. Sweet! We didn't have to walk miles upon miles! So we got our stuff ready and headed out to meet up at their house and then we were on our way!
Spanish Fork is about 45 minutes from where we live, and Jessi and Dave live like 5 minutes from us too. Once we got there, we were surprised to not see as much snow as we expected! Even better! As we drove farther into the canyon, we noticed ALOT of cars parked on the road. What is going on?! And then we saw it.....the gate was closed! And all these people were parked here to go hiking up to the hot springs! Bummer! We had a time frame because they had plans later so we decided to bag the hike since it was going to take so long. What to do now?!
As we were heading back down, we decided to get out of the car and stretch our legs and at least enjoy the scenery for a moment. And we are so glad we didn't go for that hike! There was a wind chill! And with how long we would have had to hike, in the cold mountains, that would have made it worse! But the scenery was at least pretty! Haha. After that short trip outside of the car, we got back in and headed back down. We still wanted to go for a hike or something, but the hot spring idea was what all of us wanted to do most.
So, we made another impromptu decision and we drove to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, Utah....which is up North.... in the opposite direction 2 hours of where we had just driven. But unexpected adventures are always the best! (Thank you so much for driving that much Jessi!, you're amazing!)
So after about 2 hours, we were almost there, and we hit the most potholes in the road that any of us had ever seen! We were all pretty much screaming! It was pretty much comedy!
Finally! We had made it to Crystal Hot Springs! Hallelujah! We were all so ready for some mineral soakin'! The boys had both been when they were little tikes, but neither Jessi nor I had ever been! Dave and Travis kept going on and on about the water slide and that we needed to do it.
Once we got ready, we headed out to the pools. Now, the only hot spring I had ever been too was in fact the one we had just tried up Diamond Fork. So I was expecting pools in natural ground. But to my surprise, it was just like a public pool with 3 pools that looked like hot tubs and then 2 bigger ones. It was a lot smaller than I expected too. So we bounced from pool to pool cause the warmth just wasn't warm enough. It was nice though! In water like that you float, so I was all over the place. haha.
Dave REALLY wanted to ride the slide, but Jessi had mentioned she though it cost money. Both guys immediately reacted to that. "WHAT?! SINCE WHEN?!" Dave decided to go check it out. 5 minutes later, he comes back out to us with 4 wrist bands for the slide. HAHA! Turns out they were $3 each for unlimited. (Thanks Dave!!!)
Off to the slide we go! OMG! It was so fun! But those stairs are killer. It's like a flight of 5 or 6 stories and when you are out of shape, they suck! Anyhoo! I haven't been on a water slide since I lived in Las Vegas and would go to Wet N' Wild on the strip. I forgot how fun they are! One thing that sucked is I forgot to take my glasses off, so I had to go down with them on. The pressure when you landed in the pool did not make me feel comfortable wearing them. But I went a few more times :)
As we found the slide, we also found another LARGE pool just past it and it was WAY warmer than the others! Score!
All in all, I think we all had an amazing time! It was so nice to be out and go on a little get away with another couple. Much Much needed! (Thanks Jessi for letting me use your Snap photos!)
Once we got home, we had it planned to go get some Salmon and healthy stuff for dinner to kind of lightly celebrate VDay because with our work schedules, we wont be able to do anything. But on the way home, Travis brought up La Puente. Now... La Puente is a family owned Mexican restaurant and La Puente and I have a very very loving relationship. It's literally my favorite restaurant besides Charlie Chows. So, whenever it is brought up, any food plans are thrown out the window and its nothing but La Puente. So we got ready and went there. SOOOOO GOOOD! and it was slow! I normally get a Smothered Bean and Cheese Burrito with cheese and onions but I decided to go a little healthier and tried shredded chicken instead of beans....OMG! I found my new favorite. It was delicious. Travis was even jealous of my meal.
So for a very unexpected day, it turned out to be one of the best days we have had in a while! :)