Zion Canyon Hot Springs wants visitors to travel the world without leaving Utah.
La Verkin • Despite July temperatures in the triple digits, southern Utah’s newest hot springs haven is set to open on Monday as planned.
Officials with Zion Canyon Hot Springs are hoping visitors like the heat enough to take the plunge in the 53 pools at the resort, which is nestled in La Verkin on 11 acres north of the Virgin River, near the now-defunct La Verkin Hot Springs Resort.
In fact, Zion Canyon officials are banking on it — roughly $60 million. That’s the amount Texas-based WorldSprings has poured into the resort, which is expected to draw an estimated 400,000 visitors and gross up to $40 million a year. It is also projected to employ 150 workers.
“For a small community like La Verkin, having a $60 million resort and the revenue it will generate is a big deal for us,” La Verkin City Administrator Kyle Gubler said about the town and its nearly 5,000 residents.
Zion Canyon Hot Springs’ opening comes 12 years after La Verkin Hot Springs — also known as La Verkin Sulphur Springs, Dixie Hot Springs or Pah Tempe — was shut down and put off-limits to bathers due to the then-owner’s legal and financial problems.
Relaxing, restoring and rejuvenating
To pay homage to the old resort and natural springs, Zion Canyon officials are seeking to replicate the Pah Tempe experience — and then some. They are also seeking to imitate some world-renowned springs like Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, Japan’s Hokkaido and Italy’s Terme di Chianciano.
“Our mission is to be an oasis where people can relax, restore and rejuvenate,” resort general manager Ron Neumann said.
To that end, Zion Canyon is separated into family and adult sections. The family side of that divide sports 14 natural hot spring pools, a barrel sauna adjacent to a large freshwater pool, and a whirlpool. The adult-only section features 18 natural mineral pools, two barrel saunas, two cold-plunge pools and 16 WorldSprings-inspired pools that mimic famous thermal resorts.
Zion Canyon officials have a contract to draw water from La Verkin Hot Springs, which the Washington County Water Conservancy District acquired in 2013 from the previous owner who went bankrupt. The springs produce 7 million gallons of 107-degree hot water per day, according to the water district.
Roughly three of Zion Canyon’s 11 acres is leased from the district, which is supplying it with up to 2,000 gallons per minute from La Verkin Hot Springs alongside the river, in exchange for $25,000 a year, automatically adjusted for inflation, or 2% of the resort’s annual gross ticket sales, whichever is greater, according to resort officials.
Cleaning the water, clearing the air
Neumann said that water will be extracted from the district’s springs and go through the resort’s filtration system to remove harmful bacteria and the hydrogen sulfide gas that smells like rotten eggs before the water is piped into resort’s 32 natural mineral pools, which are named after hiking trails in Utah’s five national parks. Every two hours, he added, the water in the natural pools will be refreshed and the used water will be cleaned and treated before it is released into the Virgin River.
The La Verkin Hot Springs release 109,000 tons of salt per year, enough to fill 6,800 semitrucks, according to district officials. Neumann noted that once the water mixes with the river it is rendered useless.
“We are essentially taking water that is otherwise useless for farming or drinking … and cleaning it before it is put in the Virgin River," Neumann said, “which helps with its salinization problem.”
In addition to the hot spring water, nearly all of which is put back in the river, the district is supplying the resort with 10.7 acre-feet of culinary water — nearly 3.5 million gallons — per year, which will be used for showers, the family pool and the WorldSprings pools, among other amenities.
Zion Canyon’s WorldSprings pools, which are all located in the adult section, are individually treated to duplicate the mineral and chemical content of their respective global namesakes. For example, the mineral composition in the wavy Dead Sea pool enables bathers to float atop the water just as they would on the real thing.
“We had a chemist who studied every single famous pool around the world that we are mimicking,” said Neumann. “We have taken those minerals found at these sites and recreated them here.”
Many of the WorldSprings pools are accessible to people with disabilities, and signage next to each one draws soakers’ attention to their purported health and therapeutic benefits.
“In a sense, our WorldSprings pools enable our guests to travel the world without leaving Utah,” said Maggie Cope, resort vice president of marketing.
Visitors enter Zion Canyon through a main building equipped with a store, showers, swimsuit drying machines and a combined 1,200 lockers in men’s, women’s and family locker rooms. Guests who don’t bring their bathing suits can purchase swimwear and sandals at cost and rent robes. They can also rent one of the resort’s six cabanas. Towels and drinking water at various stations are supplied at no cost.
Each guest is supplied with an RFID (radio frequency identification) wristband to unlock lockers access varying parts of the resort. It can also be used like a credit card for rentals and purchases. A cashless facility, the resort has a “reverse ATM” for guests who bring only bills.
“They pay a set cash amount and the machine spits out a MasterCard they can use for all purchases,” said Neumann, adding the cards come without any additional fees.
Dividing Zion Canyon’s family and adult section is The Springs Cafe, which will offer fresh salads, sandwiches, flatbreads and pizzas. Guests in the family section can wash that down with a variety of crafted sodas or nonalcoholic cocktails and draft beer. In addition to beer, the cafe’s drink menu for patrons in the resort’s fenced-off adult section will include wine and cocktails, according to Cope.
Complementing, not competing
La Verkin’s Zion Canyon is located 19 miles west of its namesake. Cope said the resort aims to complement rather than compete with Zion National Park, which draws nearly 5 million visitors each year. The resort will try to tap into that traffic by offering 10% discounts to tourists at area hotels and giving locals a 20% discount.
“We are hoping we can give visitors a reason to stay an extra day or two to come to Zion Canyon Hot Springs,” Cope said.
And lest anyone balk about soaking in hot springs during southern Utah’s sweltering summers, resort officials note the water in most natural springs will be kept at 98 degrees.
“But some of them will be kept hotter for those crazy heat junkies out there,” Cope quipped.
Temperatures in the WorldSprings pools will range from 86 to 104 degrees. The water in the family pool will be kept at 90 degrees.
“We are going to have lots of options that are going to help guests feel cool and refreshing,” Neumann said.
Besides steeping in steamy water, visitors may soon be able to soak up the stars at night. Resort officials plan to offer stargazing events. Yoga, health classes and live acoustic music might also be offered.
Visit zioncanyonhotsprings.com for more information about the resort, including pricing, operating hours and special offers.