Fifth Water Hot Springs: February 27 - 28, 2016

Fifth Water Hot Springs (Three Forks?): 11.8 miles out and back (3.6 miles on the portion of the Diamond Fork Road closed in winter; 2.3 miles on the actual Fifth Water Hot Springs Trail), a negligible 962 foot elevation change.

After just scoping it out and clearly not planning on biking to the hot springs the weekend before, we decided that the allure of hot water and the unseasonably warm February weather presented a good opportunity to take another crack at backpacking and earn our winter camping stripes. We loaded up our (much lighter than last time) packs and set off for an overnight trip to Fifth Water Hot Springs.


The trail to the springs is normally a breezy 2.3 mile stroll along Fifth Water Creek, but in winter the road to the trailhead is closed almost 4 miles before. This makes the total hiking time around 2 hours, plus or minus. It’s generally uphill going in, but very gentle with plenty of flat stretches. The intervening week of warmth and sun melted most of the road’s slush, so the going was much easier.


The trail itself followed a narrow canyon mostly shielded from direct sun, so despite the temperatures, there was snow everywhere. The trail itself had melted and re-frozen many times, which made for some slippery uphill and downhill stretches.


Soon, we started to smell rotting eggs and emerged at the springs. Here, tipsy college students frolicked in the winter sun and a lone nude middle aged weirdo lurked in the shadows of one pool. We set up our camp on a tiny flat perch in the snowbound back end of the canyon. Our fire and sitting area was across a treacherous icy creek but beyond that the site was lovely - nobody was around and nature provided a free beer fridge.


We then headed for the springs. We have to say, it lived up to the hype. The hot water burbled up into the various pools at different temperatures, which provided choices ranging from cold to inhumanely hot – all in the idyllic backdrop of a quiet, isolated canyon.


As evening approached, we were expecting the place to clear out, but people kept arriving and staying into the night. Some couples we spoke with lingered well past sunset and hiked out the 6 miles to their car in the dark, which struck us as a little foolish, given how slippery the trail was even in midday.

We, on the other hand, were extremely responsible, drinking copious amounts of fireball + 12 beers while huddled around a dying fire. At a point we headed to the hot springs for warmth, only to freeze doubly when trudging back to our tent. We were grateful for the thin air mattresses considering we were literally sleeping on a massive ice cube.


The next morning, we packed up and took a farewell dip in the springs, heading back to the car around noon. Other than a frigid nighttime pee and some frozen solid shoes/suits in the morning, snow camping went off without a hitch! The fact that we were camped next to a natural jacuzzi didn’t hurt either.


One thing we did notice was the large number of people, many with small children, seemingly unaware of how far the hike to the springs was and how long it would take. Walking out, we passed families barely one mile in starting the journey well after 1pm. We let anyone who asked know that it was a long way to the end and subtly tried to encourage them to turn around.

Finally, we’re still backpacking noobs but improving! There’s a bit of a learning curve and the on-the-ground experience has proven just as useful as all the research and preparation. Packing gear for the winter presented some new challenges and here’s what we learned:

1) The extra pair of shoes that seemed so blatantly inessential at Kings Peak was the thing we needed the most on this trip. No matter how much you try to prevent it, any amount of hiking in the snow will make your shoes wet, and if they’re wet, they will be frozen rock solid in the morning. This is where shoe pair #2 would have saved us a world of frozen-foot aggravation. Also, bring extra socks to go with those dry shoes.

2) The water filter pump is not so bad after all. At Kings Peak we really weren’t prepared for how tedious filtering water can be and we wasted a lot of time figuring it out. This time around it went much faster and we managed to replenish our water a few times with minimal effort. We even gifted a container of lovingly filtered creek water to a pair of ill-prepared Canadian stoners.

3) Save space not packing changes of clothes you won’t use and instead pack in more cans of beer! We never really seem to change clothes on camping trips because we’re already disgusting. Those unused clothes take up valuable real estate that could be used by alcohol. While whiskey is a lightweight, low-volume solution to this problem, what fun is camping without beer? Take on the extra weight for the hike in and packing out the weightless, crushed empty cans is your reward. Plus, you get to enjoy beer like a damned human.

4) We highly recommend a hot springs as an intro to winter camping. It was nice to know that no matter how bad we messed up there were 95 degree pools mere yards away waiting to keep us alive until sunrise.