Glenwood Springs is such a cute little town that I knew I wanted to spend a whole weekend there. There is so much to do, so much beauty to see, and so much relaxing to be had.
We left Denver on Friday around 7pm and were set to arrive at 9:30pm. We didn’t realize we would be driving through a big storm. It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see the road. We skidded 3 times so we decided to pull off the highway but there were no exits for a while. There was lightening so bright right in front of the car that it blinded us for a moment. It was like someone flashed a camera in our eyes. It was scary!
We pulled off and went into a gas station to use the bathroom. The cashier was very nice but super chatty. It was hard to get away. I was backing up slowly but she didn’t care. She just moved along forward to stay close and kept talking. She was very nice but didn’t get the social cue.
We finally get to our airbnb around 10:30pm. I thought we had a private entrance so I didn’t think being an hour late was an issue but I was wrong. I took a bunch of our stuff to the front door and stood there waiting for mark when I see a little head pop up, looking at me through the door’s window. An elderly lady opens the door and says “I’ve been waiting for you! I was just messaging you to see where you were!” Obviously there was a big storm so I thought it was common sense we would be late but I guess not. This lady was also a talker. We couldn’t get away. We both inched our way downstairs toward our room but it didn’t matter because she followed us right downstairs and stayed in our room for a while. Again, very nice but I was exhausted and we were getting up early to hike.
We absolutely fell in love with the cat! She was in our room most of the weekend investigating our luggage and laying in bed with us. I just love it when our airbnbs have pets!
We planned to hike Hanging Lake Saturday morning but didn’t look up much before we got there. The WiFi didn’t work at all so we had to use Mark’s phone because he had service and I didn’t. I didn’t have WiFi or service the whole weekend which was pretty frustrating for my social media-addicted self.
For Hanging Lake we read so many reviews that we should get there no later than 7:30am. Luckily our airbnb was only 15 mins away. By some miracle we actually left on time and were at the parking lot at 7:30am. There were only 2 spots left in the closest parking lot but the parking lot a few feet away was empty. Also, this was the last weekend you could hike this trail without a permit so we expected it to be pretty crowded. We had read online that though short, it is a very difficult and strenuous hike. Both mark and I found the hike to be pretty easy. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had expected. There was snow and ice on the ground so I had to be careful a few times. The hike took us about 4 hours round trip and that was with a ton of stopping to take pictures and videos and pee breaks. We also hung out at the lake for a long time and stopped to watch the various wildlife.
This was the incredibly beautiful walk just from the parking lot! I was getting excited.
The whole hike up is just gorgeous!
The lake was incredible. I could not believe my eyes! I took soooo many pictures! But something interesting about this lake is that because we hiked so early, I couldn’t really get great pictures of the lake. The lighting was terrible.
As you approach Hanging Lake, there is a sign for a waterfall. I highly recommend going up. Its’ not even a 5 minute walk and it is gorgeous! Take the extra few minutes to go up! You won’t regret it!
As we were walking down from the waterfall I see bright Turquoise…umm…WHAT IS THAT??? My eyes nearly popped out.
The water was turquoise! Just look at the difference from the pics above.
We went down back to Hanging Lake and I had to retake all my pictures! Not happy!
I thought it was beautiful before but just look at it now.
The water was insanely clear! You could see the fish!
While it was nice to hike early to beat the crowds as well as getting a parking spot (that wont matter much with the permit and shuttle system put into place) I recommend hiking a bit later to get good light and to see just how turquoise this lake gets!
You aren’t supposed to feed the wildlife but of course people do so the squirrels and chipmunks here are very friendly and beg for food. Can you tell how obsessed with this guy I was??? I must have stood here for legit 20 minutes. This isn’t even all of my pictures lol
As cute as this is, please do not feed the animals!
The hike down was super fast. It wasn’t difficult and I wasn’t stopping to take pictures. We got down in less than an hour.
Though this hike is beautiful, we saw a lot of trash on the hike so be mindful of not only taking your trash with you but also picking up trash you see!
Check out this video I made of our hike
On our way back to the airbnb, we spotted a place called Yampah Spa. We didn’t know what this was so we decided to look it up. The spa looked super cool. It is a system of hot spring vapor caves. We decided to check it out later in the day.
When we got back, we showered and went out for lunch at Slope & Hatch. I was pretty annoyed because you can order 2 large tacos. I wanted to order two different tacos but you can only order the same tacos. This was quite obnoxious to me because I like trying different things. Though I was annoyed, the tacos really were amazing. We sat outside under a tree to eat and it was delightful.
After lunch we walked around town. It is super cute and charming. I enjoyed walking all around and taking in the adorableness.
We stopped in a few cool stores and art galleries. One store we stopped in, Art on 8th had amazing art works to buy and you could even explore upstairs where they do their weaving!
I love collecting rocks so of course, my favorite store we stopped in was the rock and gem store. They had gems and fossils and rocks from all over. They had music bowls and fairy gardens. It was just so cool and fun! We even got to pick out our own free rock which I still have!
While exploring we were drawn in by a delightful smell. The smell of warm chocolate! We followed the scent and it led us to Chocolate Moose Ice Cream Parlor. We walked in and saw they were making their ice cream cones. The amazing smell is indescribable. I am trying to cut out dairy so I ate some sherbet on a warm, fresh cone. Amazing!
After exploring the town we went to Yampah. We paid $15 to do the caves. The caves are awesome but super hot! We could only sit in them for about 10 minutes before we went upstairs to the solarium to cool off. This was such an awesome, relaxing activity. We enjoyed this a lot! You can pay extra for massages and facials but we just did the caves.
I know I took pictures in here but sadly they are MIA. Hopefully I find them so I can post. But let me assure you, this place is so cool and the solarium is beautiful.
After feeling nice and relaxed, we went to Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub for dinner. The food was reasonably priced and so good! Mark didn’t really like the beers. He said a lot of them tasted the same. He got a flight for $8 so at least it was cheap.
We enjoyed the sunset then went back to the airbnb for the night after an amazing day!
Sunday morning, we slept in, packed, and checked out. We planned to ride the Gondola in the morning for $20 which we thought was a lot but we wanted to do it anyway. Mark saw that we were expecting thunder and lightening storms in the afternoon so we decided to skip the Gondola so we would have plenty of time to enjoy the Hot Springs. We bought our tickets online for $18 for the day.
I wasn’t sure I would like this hot spring because it was just a big open pool but it was actually very nice and had a beautiful backdrop.
One thing I did not like about this hot spring was that because it was one big pool, you could not pick the temperature you wanted. This pool was hot! At first I was only able to stay in a few minutes at a time but I eventually got used to it.
They had another pool that a ton of kids were in. I dipped my feet in that one and it was very cold! There were quite a few kids and even babies in the pool I was in which I was concerned about because it was so hot. I think there needs to be some sort of rule that kids under a certain age can’t go in the main pool.
Something nice about this pool too is that there is actually an air pump for floats and there were a ton of benches and lounge chairs. The locker rooms were also great. They were clean, had great hair dryers, tons of benches, showers and even shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.
The biggest down side to this hot spring was the food. I was quite disappointed in their cafe. There weren’t any vegetarian options at all. I got a burrito bowl that I asked for without meat but it was pretty much empty. It was rice, lettuce, and tomato. The prices were expensive too. There are so many restaurants and cafes in the area so be sure to eat before and after.
We stayed at the hot spring a few hours before the drive home. We wanted to get food before we hit the road. We went to Bluebird Cafe which was super cute and had great crafts and live music which was nice but we weren’t fans of the food. It was very expensive for what we got. My sandwich was delicious but it was tiny! I could have had 3 or 4 of them! Mark ordered a salad that was literally spinach, 3 slices of cucumber, and 3 slices of tomato and it was so plain. We enjoyed the cafe but were disappointed in the food.
We had the best weekend in Glenwood Springs. It was a great mix of excitement, art, fun, and relaxation. I definitely want to go back! Next time we plan to take the Gondola up to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and ride the Alpine Coaster!
Is there anything else we should put on our list?
What other Colorado weekend trips should we take?