Charlotte Hot Springs Is the Newest Place to Take a Dip in Buena Vista

Charlotte Hot Springs and Botanical Gardens recently opened just five miles west of the town of Buena Vista. Visitors to 19256 County Road 343 can enjoy various amenities, including three new public soaking pools, each varying in temperature and filled with natural spring water sourced on site.

Buena Vista is home to two of the most well-known hot springs in Colorado. But according to co-owner Glen Merrifield, “We created our own vibe, which is way different than Cottonwood and Mount Princeton, and certainly different from the big commercial [resorts] of Glenwood or Pagosa.”

The sixty-acre property, owned by Merrifield and his wife, features “boutique hot springs” with a relaxing and rustic ambience. Day passes on Mondays through Thursdays are priced at $30 per adult, while passes on Fridays through Sundays are $35. Locker and towel rentals are available for an additional fee.
The venue is relatively small, as are the pools, which range from around twelve by twelve feet to sixteen by sixteen feet. Pathways up to the pools are all handicapped-accessible, and although a privacy fence wraps around the soaking area, it doesn’t block the views of the surrounding mountains and national forest.

“Originally, the pools were going to be indoors," Merrifield says. "They were going to be more like a rec pool." To utilize the large 60-by-140-foot structure built under the initial plan, he installed a polycarbonate greenhouse covering and converted it into a botanical garden.

The gardens are currently open, but work is still underway. “You're never really finished planting or transplanting or replanting certain areas," Merrifield notes. "Botanical gardens are always a work in progress, I think.” Once complete, the gardens will include fish ponds and plants from various regions around the world.
Owning and managing a commercial hot spring is new to Merrifield, but agriculture is a family business. His parents opened their first greenhouse in the 1970s, and today it continues to supply external wholesalers and Merrifield's Garden Hut, a retail center located next to one of two stoplights in downtown Buena Vista.

“Although we grow year-round, the greenhouses are a very seasonal business for us. We decided that [hot springs were] a lot better use of the water on a year-round basis,” says Merrifield. “You can't lay claim to water rights if you don't beneficially use it.”

That’s exactly what the Merrifield family has done for six generations in Buena Vista. The family's history in Colorado dates back to 1875, when William Merrifield emigrated from England and was a miner in the region. Roy Merrifield, William’s youngest son and Glen’s grandfather, was also a miner; he worked alongside the Holloway family, one of the earliest homesteaders in Buena Vista.

In the 1920s and ’30s, “they not only mined gold and silver up above Cottonwood Lake, but they mined the hot water,” explains Merrifield. “They found water flowing out of the mountain at its current location, and they mined one of many [springs] 400 feet back into the mountain. Once they did that, they had 300 gallons a minute free-flowing out of there.”
The idea of opening public baths first came to the family about a decade or so later. “They were going to pipe [water] five miles into town, but then the World War came along, and things got shut down,” Merrifield explains.

He says that on-site hot spring pools were trialed next and cost the public just 25 cents to access at the time. “But five miles out of town was a pretty good distance," he says, "and that was even more prohibitive in the winter, because we're at 8,600 feet in elevation." The baths quickly closed.

Then, in the ’70s, “we adjudicated water rights to geothermally heat the greenhouses,” Merrifield recalls. But the dream to open a public hot spring hadn’t dried up.

In 2000, Chaffee County approved a planned-unit development, and around 2006, Merrifield secured a bank loan and began building. However, when the recession hit in 2008, “the bank didn't wish to go any further with the plot [given] the financial situation in the world," he says. "It was not a good time to try to get them to help us finish it. We stumbled along, just gradually putting our own cash into it." Then, about two or three years ago, Gunnison Bank and Trust agreed to back his loan.

Charlotte Hot Springs has been a long time coming, and in Merrifield’s opinion, there’s still room to grow. In addition to botanical garden developments, he hopes to establish on-site concessions — perhaps by making use of existing plug-ins that could support food trucks.

In addition to restrooms and changing facilities, the property has two cabins available for overnight bookings. “One is an original homestead cabin built by the Holloway family. It’s smaller, just one room, so it really speaks to the historical nature of the property,” says Merrifield. “The other one [has] two bedrooms and a living room, so it's got more square footage.”

Currently, lodging rates do not include access to the three new public pools. However, each cabin includes a private outdoor soaking tub, allowing for an even more intimate hot spring experience.

Learn more about the hot springs here.