The hot springs La Verkin
Open again since July 2025, after twelve years shut
Zion Canyon Hot Springs, and the water it was built on.
Roughly fifty pools fed by mineral springs that come out of the canyon at about 107 degrees and 5,000 gallons a minute. Here is what a visit involves, why the old riverside site closed in 2013, and why it is still closed.
Start here
Five thousand gallons a minute of 107 degree water, coming out of a canyon wall.
The springs that feed this place are not a novelty. They emerge in the Virgin River canyon between La Verkin and Hurricane at roughly 5,000 gallons a minute, at about 107 degrees, and they have been doing it long enough to be named on maps under several titles at once: the La Verkin Sulphur Springs, Dixie Hot Springs, and the one everyone here still uses, Pah Tempe.
They are also the single biggest water quality problem on this river. The Washington County Water Conservancy District, which owns them, puts the salt they carry into the Virgin River at roughly 109,000 tons a year. That figure is the reason a water district owns a hot spring at all: it bought in as majority owner in 1994 and became sole owner in 2013, and it has been looking at treatment options with state and federal partners ever since.
For most of the last twelve years all of that happened out of sight, because the springs were closed to the public. Zion Canyon Hot Springs, which opened in July 2025 on a 15 acre site above the canyon, is the first legal public access to this water in a generation.
The springs, at a glance
~107°F
at the source
~5,000
gallons a minute
~109,000
tons of salt a year into the river
July 2025
public access restored
The twelve years in between
Why a water district closed a hot spring, and why it took this long to reopen.
The old resort sat at the bottom of the canyon, on the river, at the mouth of Timpoweap Canyon. It was a genuinely beloved place and it was in a genuinely bad location: a flood plain under walls that shed rock. The district, which had been buying into the property since 1994 for the water rather than the recreation, closed it to the public in 2013 when it became sole owner, citing the flood and rockfall exposure of that specific site.
What followed was a long argument rather than a quick redevelopment, and there is no version of this story where everybody involved is happy about how it went. Anyone reading local history on the subject will find a well documented, decades long dispute between the family who ran the old resort and the district. That is a real part of the record and it belongs in any honest account of the place.
The resolution was not a rebuild of the old site. It was a long term lease of the land and a portion of the water to a development group, Off Road Capital Partners working with the founder of Colorado's Iron Mountain Hot Springs, who built roughly $60 million of new facility on 15 acres above the canyon floor. The water is drawn, treated, circulated through the pools, and returned to the river.
Do not go looking for the old Pah Tempe pools. The historic riverside site remains closed to the public and gated. It is in a canyon prone to flooding and rockfall, which is why it was shut, and arriving there expecting to soak means a wasted trip at best. The public water is at the resort above the canyon.
What a visit actually is
About fifty pools, and a decision about which half of the place you want.
The site runs somewhere around fifty pools and tubs in total. A large block of them are geothermal, fed by the treated spring water, and a set within that block is built to imitate the mineral character of famous waters elsewhere in the world, so the temperature and the feel change noticeably as you move between them. Alongside those are cold plunges, barrel saunas, a freshwater family pool, poolside drink service, private cabanas and a restaurant.
The single most useful thing to know before booking is that the property is split. There is a general area that takes all ages and a separate adults only section, and the two produce completely different afternoons. The age policy differs between them, the service differs, and sorting out which ticket you want at the booking stage rather than at the gate saves the visit.
Pricing and session structure on a facility this new have already moved more than once, so this page will not print a number. Check current rates and availability directly before you build a day around it.
| The general side | The adults only side | |
|---|---|---|
| Age policy | All ages | Adults only |
| What is there | The freshwater family pool plus the geothermal tubs | A separate pool set with its own service |
| Best time | Late morning, before the afternoon fills | Weekday evenings in the cold months |
| Book ahead | Yes, especially weekends and holidays | Yes, and it sells out sooner |
The split matters more here than at an ordinary pool, because the whole point of the place is sitting still in hot water for an hour or two.
The thing next to it nobody notices
A 1908 truss still standing on the old road beside the springs.
Midway between Hurricane and La Verkin, on the old road down beside the springs, there is a small steel bridge that has been there since 1908. The Midland Bridge Company built it, it is a five panel Warren pony truss of about 75 feet on concrete filled steel cylinder piers, and it is one of the oldest and longest surviving bridges of its type in Utah. It went on the National Register of Historic Places on 14 April 1995.
It stopped carrying the main road generations ago, when a newer crossing took the traffic, and its deck has been replaced with corrugated steel at some point since. It still stands, it is reachable, and almost nobody driving the modern highway over the gorge knows it is down there.
It is not a destination in its own right and this page will not pretend it is. It is a five minute detour that makes the canyon make more sense, and it is the sort of thing worth knowing about before rather than after a visit.
The springs, the 1908 bridge and a power plant from 1929 all sit within a mile of each other at the bottom of this canyon. It is the busiest quiet place in the valley.
Keep reading
More of La Verkin on The Local.
Things to do
The top 8, ranked
Eight picks, ranked, from 107 degree water to a 1929 power plant on the canyon floor.
Read the guideThe river park
Confluence Park
Three hundred and forty four acres where two creeks reach the Virgin River together.
Read the guideThe history
The 800 foot tunnel
A dry bench, a river in a gorge, and 800 feet of tunnel as the answer.
Read the guideThe road east
Zion Park Scenic Byway
Mile zero of a 54 mile national byway sits at a junction on the edge of town.
Read the guideMoving here
Two city halls, one valley
Two cities four minutes apart, two of everything, and about 14 percent between them.
Read the guideThe companion
La Verkin, from a local
The springs, the river park, the tunnel and the byway, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The springs, answered.
Same water, different place. Pah Tempe is the historic riverside site at the bottom of the Virgin River canyon, which has been closed to the public since 2013. Zion Canyon Hot Springs is a newer 15 acre facility built above the flood plain that leases the spring water under a long term agreement and opened in July 2025.
The Washington County Water Conservancy District, which had been buying into the property since 1994 and became sole owner in 2013, closed the site to the public that year, citing the flood plain and rockfall exposure of that particular spot at the bottom of the canyon. There is also a long and well documented dispute between the district and the family who ran the old resort.
The source springs come out of the ground at about 107 degrees Fahrenheit. The resort draws and treats that water and circulates it through its pools, so individual pools sit at a range of temperatures rather than all matching the source.
Roughly fifty pools and tubs in total across the site, including a large set of geothermal pools, a group built to imitate mineral waters from elsewhere in the world, cold plunges, barrel saunas and a freshwater family pool.
It is strongly advised. This is a day pass facility that runs on sessions rather than a roadside soak, and weekends, holidays and the cold months fill. Check current availability and rates directly, since pricing on a facility this new has already changed more than once.
There is a general area open to all ages, including a freshwater family pool, and a separate adults only section. Decide which side of the property suits the group before booking rather than at the gate, because they produce very different visits.
It is returned to the Virgin River. The springs naturally discharge into the river anyway, carrying roughly 109,000 tons of salt a year, which is the reason the county water district owns them and continues to study treatment options with state and federal partners.
It was developed by Off Road Capital Partners together with the founder of Iron Mountain Hot Springs in Colorado, at a cost of roughly $60 million on a 15 acre site, under a long term lease from the Washington County Water Conservancy District for the land and a portion of the water.
The cold months. Soaking in 107 degree water is a far better proposition in January than in July, and a winter weekday afternoon with steam coming off the pools and the canyon walls above them is the version locals plan around.
A destination arrived in a town that had spent decades being driven through.
The hot springs are the most visible change here, but the reclamation plant, the byway designation and the sewer capacity behind them matter more to a purchase. I track what has actually closed on this bench, which is a different thing from what a national estimate guesses.