This is not a "Mystic Mike should do this" review. We stayed a Mystic on 5/15/13 the staff were great and the water was hot. There were a few things that should be addressed. The main restrooms in the camping area were out of order and it looked like had been for awhile. Port a potties should be provided until the restrooms are repaired. Picnic tables would be a nice touch in the tent camping area. Trash dumpsters were overflowing and had a lovely odor. Hot water running to all of the soaking tubs would be good. After charging us(2) $40.00 to soak and camp for the night I hope bad karma doesn't fall Mikes way.
Review Source:Quite possibly the strangest place on the planet... Â If you are looking for a commercialized, sanitized, corporatized, overpriced hot spring experience, do not come here. Â If you are looking for a unique hippy dippy soakathonic adventure with the kindest of staff, head here at once. Â
Mystic Mike (the owner who stumbled upon and bought this place 17 years ago while following the Grateful Dead across the country) defies all common sense logic with his hot springs business plan, yet it seems to work. Â As far as the "junk and scraps" lying around the facility, Mike doesen't view these items as "trash," instead valuable materials he will reuse on a future project such as the geothermal heated greenhouse made with reclaimed wood and tent parts used in the Viet Nam war. Â Maybe we can all learn a lesson from his "reuse" mentality. Â Additionally, he has befriended many amazing world class bands over the years that routinely stop here while on tour to soak and play music for you in the most intimate of settings.
For those reviewers who say this place "could be great if...," I say Mystic is already a great place. Â You either "get it" or you don't.
This weekend I was surprised by wife with an adventure. As we only listened to Grateful Dead. We traveled along highway 89, avoiding I-15 just for the fun of it. After two hours we arrived at Mystic Hot Springs.
When we pulled up, I could see why my wife insisted on Listening Grateful Dead. A broken down bus sat at in the main parking lot with "Grateful Dead" painted on the side. I could not believe where we were nor that my wife had found this place. We were checked in by Mike. Or as he goes by "Mystic Mike." He was kind and took time to give us a lay out of the property. That's when I learned we were staying in the "Ripple" bus. "A bus?" I thought. "Ripple bus?" I thought. Surely named for the great Garcia/Hunter tune, Ripple. Awesome.
We drove down to the Ripple bus. It was just that, a small converted school bus that that looked like one those I had seen in pictures and dreamed of in my youth hoping one day to follow the Dead as they toured the country.
The door to the bus was "secured" by a piece of wood through the lock latch. The inside was clean and comfortable. There was a power strip that had a small heater and a light strip (which provided sweet "mood" lighting) as well as a few other outlets if you need to charge your phone, or plug something else in. Because it was muddy, due to melting snow, a nice wood pallet was provided for us to step out on to. The bed was comfortable, and plenty of bedding was provided to keep us warm at night. To keep the door "secured" at night a bungee cord of the highest caliber was provided.
After settling in, we walked up to the hot springs. They were awesome. We soaked in one of the tubs watching the sunset. It was so peaceful and quite. The tubs were clean, the water was hot, the sunset, was INCREDIBLE.
The property is bohemian for sure. There is a lot of stuff all over the place. So much so the producers of American Pickers and Hoarders could have a heyday. However, it's clean. Most importantly, the bathrooms were kept really nice and clean (no glory holes between the stalls). Aside from the tubs, are the main soaking pools. They were nice to relax in. Mystic Hot Springs offers other accommodations, cabins tent sites, however, I gotta say, get a bus. Where else can you stay in a bus? The property has other buses that I hope are available soon. It will be rad to see if they get cool graphics painted on them. A couple already have cool graphics, like the Nature Bus.
So if you find yourself wanting a far out trip, man, head down to Monroe, Utah and chill in Mystic Hot Springs. Just remember if you go, "no one may follow that path is for your feet alone."
How can you go wrong with a hot spring and nice pools and tubs?
That being said, thank you Mystic for a beautiful and relaxing time once again. Â I've come here 4 times in 10 years or so.
Why 3 stars? Â Well, if you want to buy a business that is almost impossible to run into the ground, buy a hot spring. Â It appears that the owners, who are nice people by the way, have mastered the art of owning a business that requires or receives almost zero maintainance. Â How someone leaves scraps and junk lying around and lets some perfectly good construction slowly fall into ruin for 15 years is beyond me but "each to their own".
This place could be a thriving beautiful hot spring resort with a much more sacred and refreshing feel. Â It could also have a nude area and more. Â The volume of water produced by this spring is immense and the place could be a Mecca for many and it's only a few hours from Salt Lake City. Â The untapped potential is huge here. Â The junk show and dilapidation are disappointing.
That being said, it's affordable and there aren't many people around. Â The water is good and the bare minimum to keep this place open is enough to keep hot water in the right places.
Always love it. Â I would love to see it thrive.
Enjoy it for what it is.
"That's cool, I don't judge you for eating bread," said the latter-day hippie to his backpack-adorned paramour as she spread out a picnic on top of his Subaru. Â A little bit down the way, a young South Asian couple vacillated--she intent on taking a dip and he uncertain about whether to just drive away or give in to his better half in hopes she'd later make it worth his while. Â Horses brayed, a dog trotted past, and steam rose off the copper-colored mountain, beckoning.
Such was the scene outside Mystic Hot Springs when I arrived on a cool March afternoon for a short stay to hang out, soak, and enjoy some time away from the city. Â After checking in with Mystic Mike, we unloaded into one of the pioneer cabins and wandered around the area.
I'll agree with the other reviewers that this spot has the potential to be a wonderful little getaway. Â But Mike's oft-quoted "funky but functional" style leads to a place that is dazzling but dilapidated, lovely but littered, gorgeous but garbage-strewn... You get the picture. Â And if you don't, I've posted some visual aids.
Here are some simple things that Mike could do to make his place a little more functional without losing the funkiness:
1. Make sure the bathroom has toilet paper.
2. Make sure the bathroom has soap.
3. A dirty wet towel thrown over the wall is not a sanitary solution for drying semi-washed hands (due to lack of soap). Â Get paper towels, an air dryer, or a sanitary cloth towel unit.
4. Run hot water to the bathrooms; you should have plenty of it, considering.
5. Clear the tons of debris from around the site. Â Seriously, rusty power tools, run-down equipment, leftover lumber, and old appliances all over the grounds are both unsightly and dangerous should anyone want to let their kids run around.
6. I'm no electrician, but I don't think that outdoor electrical cords are supposed to have bits of exposed wire. Â Fix that.
Seriously, with a little bit of care and attention to detail from the owner, this place could be really amazing. Â But as it is, it's mainly gross and slightly depressing despite the beautiful locale.
First of all, I want to start off by saying that I used to always go to nelsons ledges in ohio, my bf is a grateful dead fan..you get the idea; we're not shy to hippies and run down places. In fact, when we went here its because we were on a 10,000 mile road trip where we camped the entire time. Not high maintenance people.
At first i was so excited and the guy who owned the place seemed super nice and very interesting and i really did enjoy meeting him. If i owned that place i would certainly fix it up more..the house looks like hell and the pool has gone to nothing. it could be amazing!
The hot springs were nice, id like a more natural hot spring instead of tubs but, hey! it felt good! i learned though that they were keeping water in via cloth which, is not sanitary at all! The main springs were loaded down with messed up 16 year olds. apparently on sat nights kids get dropped off by their moms, eat a buncha mushrooms, and hang out here.
We went to bed in a tent and it was so quiet......until father time and his brother old man river started chopping wood from 1am until when i got up at 7...they were STILL CHOPPING. and the fire was huge. Not to mention the trailers slamming all night, golf carts cruising by, and a car that stopped and was beeping by our tent. I got no sleep at all. In the morning (bc it was dark when we got there) the bathrooms were gross, Â said father time was just sitting outside the ladies room..god only knows what for, the stalls are all open like a spring break orgy room, the trailers ALL OVER the grounds reminded me of some hippie convant and, people were living there so im sure it was. It was just terrible. Dont go in there to camp....see the hot springs sure but, ugh.. it was 20 a person too for camping making it 40...i wouldve slept better in my car.
This place is definitely rough around the edges, so if you like really clean, well maintained facilities and the running of an orderly business, you might want to pass on Mystic. Â That said, we thought it was really fun. Â
The old hippie guy who runs the joint is a hoot. Â His dusty store and sleepy dogs were delightful. Â The hot springs were relaxing, didn't smell too sulfuric, and the tubs are unique-- a sight to see.
We were there on a Saturday in early June and had the place mostly to ourselves. Â When the water got too hot, I found a secluded place to lay out in the breeze. Â The view is, of course, pretty great, too. Â
For $10/person, it's a nice way to spend an afternoon.
In short, this place is just awesome. It's out there and beyond worth a visit. As the previous reviewer stated, it is definitely raw, but that's part of what makes it so very awesome. I found it to be very relaxing, & the tub I was in was great. I stayed in so long I was starting to turn into a raisin. I will absolutely return here should I by chance go through Utah again!!
Review Source:For my 500th review, I am going to let you all in on a secret. If you find yourself about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah....you must come to Monroe, Utah and check out Mystic Hot Springs!
This place is truly amazing and will definitely be a regular vacation spot for us when we are in Utah. We came here and camped out one night and also got to experience the awesome hot springs here.
This place is no frills and will probably turn off some people because it's a really raw place. The bathrooms are not fancy and neither is the campground but the great thing is that the camping is GRASS! So this makes it fun to pitch tents and play soccer without getting too dirty. Â Also has RV hookups and plenty of clean water, showers and bathroom facility as well.
Aside from the campsite, this place has really amazing natural hot springs! Up the hill, you will find several large and smaller tubs with natural hot springs running through them. Some hotter then others but all beautiful. Many people come here from all over the world believing that these hot springs have special healing powers.
Because this wonderful place is located in Utah, the rules are more strict. They do not allow alcohol consumption except only on the picnic table areas. Also there is no tolerance for drugs and unfortunately nudity (darn Utah laws!). When soaking in the tubs, a suit or clothes must be worn (but I am sure no one would bust you if you did!)
I highly recommend checking this place out and call ahead for prices. "Mystic Mike" is the owner and a really cool guy that would love to meet you. They also have frequent concerts here which draws people in from all over the world!
See you there!
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