After passing through the town of Glenwood Springs, we stopped for the night in Grand Junction where we couch surfed with Jana (and her cats). What a fun and welcoming experience into a home filled with so much love, laughter, eastern philosophy and meditation (…and the list goes on). Although we only had a couple hours with her that night and the next morning, we had a great time hanging out and sharing stories, especially about the fascinating history of great hippie activists in the SouthWest.
Our next destination was to Moab, Utah, and Jana had the great suggestion of heading south to take the less traveled route through Ridgway before heading west into Utah. Although the first hour of the drive through the Uncompahgre Valley is a little boring, the views get much better south of Montrose where you start seeing Mesa cliffs and mountains off in the distance. And we were fortunate enough to catch the full moon just as it was rising above the eastern mountains.
About 5 minutes south of Highway 62 (leading to Ridgway), there’s a small pulloff for Orvis Hot Springs. For anyone traveling around western Colorado, visiting Orvis is a MUST! This is one of the nicest natural hot springs places I’ve ever been to. Don’t let it put you off that the property is surrounded by cow farms… the entire soaking area is fenced in, and once you’re bathing in the hot mineral waters, everything else dissolves away. They’ve got 4 outdoor hot springs pools averaging 100-107°, including the Lobster Pot which ranges 108-114°. They also have a 100° indoor pool (for kids?) and a private indoor tub which is first-come-first-serve. The entire outdoor area is clothing optional which is particularly wonderful considering the mountainous landscape and minimal human presence in the surrounding areas have the effect of putting you in a natural and primitive mood.
One of the coolest things I saw at Orvis was a tiny cat named “Meat” who is apparently a resident of the springs. She was originally a stray that was adopted by the owners after they saw her rummaging through their garbage eating old pieces of meat. I was told that she is over 20 years old which I’m sure is due to the fact that she drinks from the spring water and even loves to go swimming in the pools.
After soaking for a couple hours that night, we retired to our tent where we slept in warm, cozy sleeping bags while the temperature dropped into the mid 20′s. I woke up the next morning to find icicles in my beard and a layer of frost covering everything inside the tent. The eastern horizon in that area is all mountains, so the valley tends to be filled with light for at least an hour before the sun comes up over the horizon. It was a pretty awesome experience soaking in the pools that morning and watching the line of the sun slide down the western hills and across the valley as it slowly filled the entire area with daylight. We soaked for a couple hours more that morning, had some brunch, and then hopped back in the car for the next destination.
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