I slept in for awhile this day then packed some crackers and a water in my bag for a hike. I made peanut butter toast before heading out. When researching hikes to do near Denver, I came upon St. Mary's glacier. The views of the alpine lake with the mountains in the background looked amazing. I again drove the same way I had gone the night before to get to Georgetown, but not as long to get to the trailhead. Getting to the trailhead took a lot of weaving back and forth. The winds increased the higher up I got, and it even started snowing. When I got up to the trailhead parking lot I looked up at the trail. The trail looked really steep and rocky not to mention it was really cold. I decided without spikes on my shoes or other equipment that it wouldn't be worth the attempt to hike up the trail. I ended up driving to a nearby town which I would be stopping by later in the day to go to the Indian Hot Springs there.
Idaho Springs, like Georgetown was a cute little mining town. I looked up nearby coffee shops and found an awesome little coffee shop called "The Frothy Cup". There were other coffee shops nearby, but the name of this one appealed to me the most. It ended up being as great as the name sounded. There was plenty of seating, a big menu, and the employees were very nice and accommodating. I ordered an eggnog latte which was very delicious. After my visit to the coffee shop I visited some of the other shops, but decided I really wanted to see some mountain scenery in the afternoon sometime before it got dark. I asked one of the employees in a shop if he had any recommended hikes, and one of the places he recommended was Echo Lake. Echo Lake was nearby and I looked it up after leaving the shop. The pictures were gorgeous so I decided I would go there, Unfortunately some of the trails and roads are closed during winter for safety reasons. One of the trails ended up being closed for Echo Lake. I could see the lake from where my car was parked, and didn't necessarily need a trail to see the lake so I took in the view from there. The wind was very strong at Echo Lake as well and it was cold, but after living in Wisconsin my whole life it was bearable. I ended up finding a trail and started walking on it. Then I started to think about how I was walking alone....in nature.....and how an animal could easily attack me if it wanted pretty easily, I decided it wasn't a good idea afterall and went back to my car. I then drove back towards the lake and found another parking lot with a trail that actually went near the shore of the lake. Another car came into the parking lot and parked so I waited for them to get out, and went onto the trail a little bit after they did. I did this because I didn't want to be alone walking on a trail again. However the trail was really short so I didn't have to worry too much. The group of people I had followed in asked me to take their picture and then took mine. The sun was very bright so the lighting in the pictures turned out pretty bad. The lake was also mostly frozen, but it was gorgeous and I was glad I drove to see it. One of the girls introduced herself to me, I told her a little bit about myself, then she asked if I had an Instagram and if we could be friends. She looked normal enough and was about my age and appeared to have a twin sister within the group. Before she asked she said "I know this is strange but" I don't know if she was just really friendly or had other motives and I guess I might never know. I kindly gave her my Instagram username (the wrong one on accident) and she gave me her number and told me she worked at a restaurant in Denver. She said that if I came tomorrow that she would pay for my dinner. I didn't end up going. She never gave me a time or pressured me into giving information which I feel like manipulators would do, but I couldn't take any chances. I walked the small trail along the side of the lake then went back to my car and drove to the hot springs.
The hot springs were definitely one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Especially the private hot springs located in a cave. The Native Americans had discovered these hot springs, and used them as a sort of healing element. Within the resort there are a lot of options. You can stay over in hotel rooms, get massages, take a mud bath, go to a public hot spring called "the pool", reserve a private bath, reserve outdoor hot tubs, or go into a private cave hot spring. I did a combo which included "the pool" and the cave hot spring. I changed into my swimsuit and then went into the pool. The pool was in a greenhouse type of place with tropical plants in planters around the pool. The pool was nice, but felt almost like a normal pool. There were kids treating it like a normal pool. It was still cool anyway. I spent about 15 minutes in "the pool" before going into the private caves. The caves were separated by gender, and were perfectly quiet. There were 3 hot springs, each in increasing temperature from front to back. The temperature of the caves was also high, so it felt like you were in a sauna as well. Only one other woman was utilizing one of the hot springs at the time, and she ended up leaving so I had the cave to myself for awhile. It felt like pure relaxation. Picture your best hot tub experience and multiply it by two, add a sauna, and the smell of eucalyptus and you get the Indian hot springs. Getting out of the hot spring and walking was a little bit hard on my body as it was so hot, but I managed. I ended up sitting in a hallway outside the cave on a bench to cool down before reentering again. The process of cooling my body down was very calming as well. I went in a second time and tried a different hot spring then went out again to sit on the same bench. I was then satisfied with my visit, and decided it was time to leave. I left and went down the street to a Subway before heading back to my AirBNB for the night.
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