Meadow Hot Springs is a lovely little stopover just off of I-15 in the middle of Utah, halfway between where you are and where you’re going. Not far South of Filmore, the springs sit just outside of Meadow, Utah, literally in the middle of cattle fields. The springs are on private property, but the owner is happy to allow anyone to visit them. Just make sure you pack out everything you pack in, and for the love of all that is courteousness, don’t go leaving your trash lying around.
To get to the springs, take the Meadow exit off of I-15 and head toward the town. You’ll pass a gas station just off of the freeway. If you aren’t already in swim suits, it’s not a terrible place to change. It’s not a lovely place to change either, but it’s a place.
Head south down Meadow’s Main Street and enjoy the small town as you drive past all of the buildings. When you’ve passed all the buildings, about 1.5 miles from the freeway, you’ll turn right onto the first dirt road. Follow that road, up over the freeway and around some curves (stay on the same road), for about 4.8 miles and you’ll come to a parking area. (We also saw a couple of cars parked near the last pool, so you could continue down the road past the large parking area and park right by that pool.)
Once you’re parked, the first pool is a short walk down a muddy road.
The first pool appeared to be the most popular. It was also the warmest. I have no way to say officially how warm, but we visited all three pools and they got progressively cooler. Not that any of them were cold, but this one stood out.
This first spring has some shallower shelves around the edges, and then gets deeper in the middle. There is also a rope strung across the deeper section that you can sit on.
I’ve heard that you can scuba dive in the springs, but we’re not that cool. Yet.
We spent some good time here, floating around and exploring the mossy areas with our goggles. But it was getting more crowded was time went on and we wanted to visit the other springs as well.
The walk out to the second pool is longer and was quite a bit muddier. This pool is a bit larger than the first. It has a deeper side (really deep), and a shallower side with an almost sandy bottom. We spent some time trying to touch the deep bottom (deep enough to hurt your ears), and then headed off to take a look at the last spring.
The third pool is another bit of a walk from the second, but it brings you back around closer to the parking area. This pool is the largest, but was also the least busy when we were there. The kids had pretty much had enough of swimming (we had been there for almost 2 hours by then), but wanted to check it out. There is a small pier built into this pool that you can use for jumping in. I think on our next visit, this will be our first stop among the pools instead of our last.
All in all, we think this is a great place to take a break during a long drive. Living several hours away, it’s not somewhere we’d head to on its own, but if we’re driving through, I’m not sure the kids will let us NOT stop. It’s a great little gem in the middle of a cow pasture, and we all give it a big two thumbs up!
What is a hidden gem in your area? Do you know of somewhere we (or anyone) should visit if we were ever in your neck of the woods? Share with us in the comments!
