Inside the spacious new lodge at Crystal Hot Springs, the long hallway leading to the locker rooms and pools is lined with historic photos of the resort and pictures of visitors over the years.
There are also dozens of images of other hot springs around the country and the world – a testament to General Manager Adam Nelson’s lifelong fascination with geothermal features.
“I love entertaining people and I love hot springs,” said Nelson, a native of Mantua who joined Crystal Hot Springs about 10 years ago and has been working ever since to raise the profile of the resort. “This is a good fit for me. It combines two things I love.”
Nelson has been leading the charge on a major revamping project at Crystal Hot Springs, which has operated almost continuously as a public hot springs resort since 1901. Over the past year and a half, crews have been working on a $1.5 million renovation, building the new lodge and another pool with a prominent cave/waterfall feature to add to the offerings.
The new pool greets visitors as soon as they walk out the door to the swimming area with a view of a cave feature about 30 feet long and 12 feet high. Made of Styrofoam encased in concrete, the cave has water running over the top of it, creating a shower-waterfall effect over the cave entrance.
The area where the new pool is located was previously a grassy lawn, with the large pool to the west and smaller pools to the east. The new pool allows people to go from one end of the swimming area to the other without having to spend as much time in the often-frigid open air.
Friends Kathy Carpenter and Jan Okey made the drive north from Riverdale last Friday to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather and see what all the fuss was about with the renovations.
“It’s very family oriented,” Carpenter said of the new pool and cave feature. “You can sit on the bottom, and kids can wade around. I love the shower feature.”
Okey appreciated the easy access to the pool.
“It’s very senior-adult friendly,” she said. “I have bad knees, so I like that it’s easy to get in and out of.”
The new lodge features high ceilings and a more spacious, accommodating feel, but the old lodge isn’t going away. It will remain standing and be converted into a sauna, a project Nelson hopes will be done in time for next winter.
With a gregarious personality and quick wit, Nelson is a natural entertainer. He worked at Disneyworld for awhile and has been known to moonlight as a stand-up comic, and brings the same mentality to his job running Crystal Hot Springs. He jokes with employees and guests alike while making his way around the grounds.
“We’re living the philosophy that every day’s a party, and everyone is our guest,” he said.
Nelson credits a team of about 70 employees, most of them part-time, for a big upswing in business in recent years.
“The parking lot will be full this weekend,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for us to see 2,000 people on a busy Saturday.”
By the same token, people who have watched Crystal Hot Springs become a thriving business since Nelson showed up say it’s no coincidence.
“The clientele has quadrupled since he got here,” said Dave Sorenson, who has been soaking in the springs for two decades and works there part-time.
Gesturing toward the new lodge and pool, Sorenson added that “none of this would be here if he hadn’t shown up.”
Nelson said most visitors to the springs come from outside of Box Elder County. Many come from the Wasatch Front, as well as from around the country and the world. Tourists are an important part of the business, as many who fly into Salt Lake City and board tour buses headed for Yellowstone National Park will stop there along the way.
Nelson’s love of hot springs has taken him to more of them than he can count, and he is quick to recite several facts and figures about Crystal that make it unique: It’s one of only a handful of places in the world where a large hot spring and cold spring emerge within 50 feet of each other. The two springs combined spout more than 3,300 gallons of water per minute. The dissolved mineral content of the water is higher than any other developed spring in the world.
“This one is different. It’s almost unreal,” Nelson said. “You can really feel the minerals.”
He said RV camping used to account for nearly half of Crystal Hot Springs’ business, but now represents only about 6 percent. Under his guidance, the resort has put its energy and focus back into the pools and the soaking experience – capitalizing on what makes it unique in the first place.
To show off its new digs and celebrate its resurgence, Crystal Hot Springs is hosting a grand opening event this Saturday, Feb. 17 at the resort, 8215 N. Hwy. 38 in Honeyville. The public is invited, as are some 250 former employees whom Nelson has invited back to share in the success they helped create.
“It’s a reflection of the whole staff and a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” he said.
