Bath houses and inns have come and gone as travel has evolved from horses and trains to cars and planes. Since the 1860s, surveyors, doctors and visitors have praised Pagosa’s natural beauty and health-giving, mineral-rich waters. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe, known as the “mountain people,” are credited with discovering the spring, and the name Pagosa is derived from the Ute words meaning “healing waters.” When European explorers encountered the Mother Spring about 150 years ago, they found human footprints and pathways leading to and from the pool in every direction. What is known is that this hot spring has been drawing people to its waters for generations. It holds the Guinness World Record for the deepest geothermal hot spring with a measurement of 1,002 feet, but every time it has been measured, its depths exceed the plumb lines. No one knows how deep the Mother Spring reaches. From above, it looks like an eye to the earth, reminiscent of geysers I’ve seen at Yellowstone National Park. There’s a glimmer of the sacred in this moment and in the unknown depths of this milky turquoise pool beside me. Photo by the Springs Resort, Pagosa Springs. Peering into the Mother Spring from above. I need this pause as our host invites us to breathe deeply and listen to the bubbling water and chirping birds around us rather than the inner chatter of our busy lives. Life has felt fragile - uncertain, fleeting and precious all at once. It’s been an emotional summer as my father battles an aggressive cancer and my oldest daughter prepares to leave home for college 900 miles away. “What stresses or burdens have you been carrying?” our host asked before we sealed our answers inside.
Inside my bottle floats a tiny square of paper with three handwritten words.
This is the source of all waters at the Springs Resort in Pagosa Springs, and I’m taking part in a Gratitude Ceremony to start my stay. This optional gathering is a brief welcome, and our host invites us to take a few mindful moments to consider the journey that’s brought us here to these healing waters. I’m standing beside the Mother Spring, holding a small glass bottle filled with its 131-degree water.
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