On the county line Pleasant View
A hot spring, an old resort site, and a county line at the top of town
Utah Hot Springs, and why you can't visit it
Utah Hot Springs is a real hot spring at the northwest edge of Pleasant View, right on the Box Elder and Weber county line just west of US-89. There was a resort here once, with a geothermally heated pool and its own excursion trains, but it came down around 1970, and today the springs sit on private ground in a working corridor of railroad track and power lines with no way in. What survives is the name: the state still calls the highway junction up the road Hot Springs Junction.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
No, you can't visit Utah Hot Springs, and it isn't a matter of a locked gate. The springs come up at the northwest edge of Pleasant View, right on the Box Elder and Weber county line just west of US-89, in a working corridor of railroad track, power lines, highway and interstate. The resort people remember, with its heated pool and excursion trains from Salt Lake City and Ogden, came down around 1970. Two old collection cisterns are all that is left, on private ground, and there is no trail, sign or viewpoint. If the name rings a bell, that is because the state still calls the highway junction a few miles north Hot Springs Junction.
Buying or selling in Pleasant View?
Can you visit
Can you visit Utah Hot Springs? No, and here is the honest reason
No. There is no public way in to Utah Hot Springs, and that is worth saying plainly before anyone drives up looking for it. The springs rise out of the valley floor about 300 feet west of US-89, at the northwest edge of Pleasant View, tucked into a corridor of railroad track, power lines, the highway and Interstate 15. The Utah Geological Survey, which keeps the fullest record of the place, describes the setting in one flat word: industrial. No trailhead, no overlook, no sign, no path.
The resort that made the name is long gone. Around the turn of the last century, someone built a bathing resort here on top of the hot water, with a heated pool and special trains that ran up from Salt Lake City and Ogden to reach it. It was torn down around 1970. What survives on the ground is two old cisterns that once collected the spring water, and they sit on private property with the rest of the site.
So this is a page to read, not a place to go. If the geology is what pulls you, the survey's own entry lays out the temperatures and the history in more detail than I will here. If it is the name that caught your eye, the one piece of this story you can legally stand next to is a highway sign a few miles north, which I will come to.
Do not go looking for the springs on the ground. There is no public access, the site sits in a working rail and utility corridor on private property, and the resort has been gone for more than fifty years. Everything worth knowing about the place is history and geology, and you can get all of it without leaving the road.
The details
Which county
Which county are the springs in? Both, and that is the useful part
The honest answer to which county the springs are in is both. They rise right on the Box Elder and Weber county line, and the line runs through the site itself, so water on the Weber side is inside Pleasant View while water a few steps north is in Box Elder County and inside no city at all. Different maps and databases file the springs under one county or the other, which is why you will see it both ways. The ground is what settles it, and the ground is a boundary.
That sounds like trivia until you are shopping for a home at the top of this corridor, and then it is one of the more practical facts in the city. Along US-89 up here, Pleasant View's city limit and the Box Elder County line are effectively the same line. Two lots a few hundred feet apart can sit in different counties, on different address grids, with different assessors, different service districts and a different set of everything a buyer eventually cares about. So if a property you are weighing sits near the north end of this corridor, the county it is in is a real question, and it is worth resolving with the county recorder before you write an offer, not after.
This same line runs east along the top of the city, and where it climbs onto the bench it becomes the reason the built trail up there simply stops; the shoreline trailhead page picks up that end of the story. The corridor itself, the freeway exit Pleasant View shares with Farr West and the rail line that runs through town without stopping, is on the US-89 corridor page.
What was there
What was here before: an emigrant road, a bathing resort, and greenhouses on the same hot water
The hot springs are older than the city around them. They sat on the Hensley Cutoff, the Salt Lake shortcut that emigrant wagons used across northern Utah in the 1850s, and Pleasant View's own history has John C. Fremont stopping at the springs in 1843 on his way around the Great Salt Lake. For a long time they were known simply as a place people went for the water, which was thought to be good for what ailed you.
The resort came around the turn of the last century: a real destination, with a pool heated by the springs and special trains run up from Salt Lake City and Ogden to reach it. That is a use of the rail corridor almost nobody would guess from looking at the tracks now, which carry freight and, for a few years, a commuter line that has since pulled back. The resort was torn down around 1970, and the excursion crowds went with it.
The water kept working after the pool closed. For years it was piped over to heat a cluster of commercial greenhouses, raising bedding plants and poinsettias for garden centers around northern Utah, the whole thing running warm through the winter on geothermal heat. Whether that operation is still going I can't tell you for certain, so I won't put a number or a name on it, but the water is genuinely hot, up toward 145 degrees in the readings the Utah Geological Survey carries, and it still comes up in the same corner of the county it always has.
The name today
The one part you can still stand next to: Hot Springs Junction
A few miles north of the springs, where US-89 meets SR-126 at the Willard interchange, the state still calls the spot Hot Springs Junction. It is right there in the transportation department's own route description, and it is signed off I-15 at Exit 351. A resort that came down around 1970 is still naming a live highway junction in 2026, which tells you how firmly the name stuck better than any plaque would.
That, and one line in the geological record that ties the whole corner together: the springs still flow under the railroad. A rail line, a power corridor, a federal highway, an interstate and a county line all cross within a few hundred yards up here, with hot water running underneath them. It is not a place you visit, but it is a genuinely odd and specific piece of ground, and now you know what you are looking at when you drive US-89 past the top of Pleasant View. The US-89 corridor page carries the rest of what runs through this stretch of the city.
Quick answers
The springs, answered
No. There is no public access, no trail, no viewpoint and no sign at the springs. They sit on private ground in a working corridor of railroad track, power lines and highway at the top of Pleasant View, and the resort that once stood over them came down around 1970. Two old collection cisterns are all that is left. The place is worth knowing about for its history and geology, but it is not somewhere you go.
Both. The springs rise right on the Box Elder and Weber county line, so the line runs through the site itself. Water on the Weber side falls inside Pleasant View, and water a few steps north is in Box Elder County and inside no city at all. Some maps file the springs under Weber and some under Box Elder, which is why you will see it listed both ways, but the honest answer is that they sit on the boundary.
Partly, and the city claims them either way. Pleasant View's own history page has John C. Fremont visiting the springs here in 1843, and the water on the Weber side of the county line does sit inside the city. But the county line runs right through the site, so the springs are as much a boundary feature as a Pleasant View one. The story is the city's; the water is on a line.
It was torn down around 1970. Before that it had a long run: the springs were a stop on the Hensley Cutoff emigrant road in the 1850s, and around the turn of the last century a resort with a geothermally heated pool was built over them, with special trains run up from Salt Lake City and Ogden to reach it. When it came down, the excursion crowds went with it, and today only two old collection cisterns remain on the site.
Hot. The Utah Geological Survey's readings put it up toward 145 degrees Fahrenheit at the top end, with most measurements in the 135 to 137 range. Those numbers come from the survey rather than from anything you can test yourself, since there is no public access to the water, but they are enough to tell you this is a genuinely hot spring, not a warm seep.
For years the hot water was piped over to heat a cluster of commercial greenhouses near the site, raising bedding plants and poinsettias for garden centers around northern Utah through the winter. Whether that operation is still running today I can't say for certain, so I won't pin an operator or a count on it. What is clear is that the water is still there and still hot, coming up in the same corner of the county it always has.
Because the state still names it after the springs. Where US-89 meets SR-126 north of Pleasant View, at the Willard interchange off I-15 Exit 351, the transportation department's own route description calls the spot Hot Springs Junction. A resort demolished around 1970 is still naming a live highway junction in 2026, which is the clearest sign of how firmly the name stuck to this corridor.
They come up out of the valley floor about 300 feet west of US-89, at the northwest edge of Pleasant View, right on the Box Elder and Weber county line, next to the railroad and power corridors and Interstate 15. The Utah Geological Survey adds one detail that fixes the spot in your mind: the springs flow under the railroad. There is no public access, so that is about as precise as the location gets for a visitor.
It matters more than almost anywhere else in the city. Along US-89 at the top of Pleasant View, the city limit and the Box Elder County line are effectively the same line, so two lots a few hundred feet apart can sit in different counties, on different address grids, with different assessors and different service districts. If a property you are weighing sits near the north end of this corridor, confirm which county it is in with the county recorder before you write an offer, not after.
A closed resort, a live name, and a county line running through the top of town
The springs themselves are a page subject, not a place to go, but the line they sit on is a genuinely practical thing to know if you are buying at the north end of Pleasant View. Along US-89 up here, the city limit and the Box Elder County line are the same line, so the county, the address grid, the assessor and the service district can all change within a few hundred feet. If a place on your list sits at the top of this corridor, that is a question for the county recorder before an offer, not after. Tell me the addresses you are weighing and I will connect you with a Weber and Morgan partner agent who knows this corner of the valley, and stay on the financing side myself.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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