fifth water hot springs

caleb and i are not skiing this year, and so we have spent a lot of winter weekends hiking in the mountains. 

earlier this month we headed about an hour south of SLC and ventured to fifth water hot springs. i had heard about the many hot springs in Utah (there are several), but we have been so distracted by the skiing, camping, and hiking in our new home state that hot springs simply took a back seat on our adventure agenda.

this was an eight mile out and back hike with minimal elevation gain. the different color pools were beautiful. the water really was hot! overall, there was a great vibe. different groups of people hanging out in the pools drinking beers and just enjoying a snowy saturday in the mountains. there were backcountry skiers doing a post-ski 'soak'. we saw a moose! caleb and i both agreed that we'd be coming back next winter without the baby. ;) 

what i learned (a lot, actually): 

looking back, hiking eight miles with a four month old baby in the dead of winter was probably way, WAY too ambitious. we alos did not have the baby in a down bunting --  it was fleece. i fed august before we began our hike. he had three layers on and a very non-outdoorsy knit hat from paris. as i'm typing this, i'm realizing how he obviously got cold. caleb and i had MORE layers on than he did, and we were exerting energy to keep our bodies warm. 

it took us two hours to hike in. we stayed for about 20 minutes, and as we started our trek back, august started to get fussy ...and eventually went into a full blown crying/screaming fit. super fun when you're about four miles into the backcountry and won't be back to your car for at least an hour! kidding. it was awful. i was in full panic mode because i only then realized hew as freezing cold. caleb had him in the ergo baby and eventually got him to chill out, warm up, and fall asleep. it was only then that i burst into tears on the hike with about a mile left explaining that i actually thought our baby was going to die from hypothermia and i promptly announced to caleb that there would be NO MORE HIKES UNTIL WE HAVE A HEAVY DUTY DOWN BUNTING FOR THE BABY. 

i immediately ordered a down bunting for august once we got home. :)

moral of the story: dress your baby in warm clothes! this may seem overwhelmingly obvious...but apparently it was something i needed to figure out in the backcountry of the wasatch mountains!