Homestead Crater

Yes, that’s right—Mother Nature has spent over 10,000 years building this gigantic private hot tub, just for you.

In Midway, Utah, an anomalous bulge rises from the earth by some 55 feet in one spot, but the ground covering it looks identical to everything on all sides. Only upon scaling this hillock would one discover a most wondrous secret: the lump is merely a shell encasing a natural hot spring, whose brilliant mineral waters hover between 90 and 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

Actually summiting the overgrown beehive covering Homestead Crater is, to be clear, off-limits nowadays. This hidden gem lives on the property of the greater Homestead Resort, whose owners have burrowed a tunnel through the surrounding limestone to offer safer, more sustainable access to the waters below (open to the public for a nominal fee). Supplementary archaeological research near the crater remains ongoing.

Inside the cave, mineral deposits run down its rock faces at a distinctly inhuman pace. The dome itself is also steadily growing at a pace undetectable to the human eye, thanks to eons of mineral-laden steam continuing to rise from the spring’s balmy waters. Meanwhile bathers, swimmers, divers, and even paddle board yogis revel in the hole’s crystalline waters. Scuba divers in particular flock to the 55-foot-deep crater for its freak character, known for being one of the warm water dive sites located within the continental United States.

As natural light mixes with the rising steam, there’s little question that the moody, ethereal atmosphere of Homestead Crater distinguishes itself as the greatest hot tub in Utah.