“Where it all began.” Them’s big words for a very little burg in northwest Colorado, Hot Sulphur Springs. But if the town’s slogan refers to tourism, then the slogan fits – Hot Sulphur Springs played a key role in the early days of Colorado tourism and, later, skiing.

The eponymous hot mineral waters that flow naturally out of the volcanic rocks along the banks of the Colorado River provided an obvious draw for visitors. While other Coloradoans were trying to make a living from extraction industries or from ranching, William Byers, a territorial surveyor and a grand man of Denver, was busy “acquiring” the land around the hot springs from the Utes. He opened the first resort on the spot in 1864, and promoted it as the “Saratoga of the West.” Visitors arrived by stagecoach on a line that ran from Georgetown to Hot Sulphur Springs.

Skiing came later, but in a big way. “The whole state's industry started in tiny Hot Sulphur Springs,” says Tim Niklas, administrator for the Grand County Historical Association.  “It speaks a lot about the people who lived there at the time and the vision they had.”

Hot Sulphur Springs was the site of the first winter carnival west of the Mississippi River, according to Niklas. It was the very end of 1911, and Norwegian immigrants Carl Howelsen – a ski hill in Steamboat Springs bears his name – and Angell Schmidt took off from the top of Rollins Pass on the Continental Divide and skied all the way to Hot Sulphur Springs, a distance of approximately 40 miles. Once there, they mesmerized crowds with trick skiing and ski races, and from this extravaganza a sport was launched. What with tobogganing, ice skating, and a winter ball, the carnival was so fabulous the town repeated it just a couple of months later in February 1912 – and then every year through World War II.

Over the years, four ski areas have come and gone right in the town of Hot Sulphur Springs; now it takes sharp eyes to find the old runs. Hot Sulphur Springs’ Pioneer Village, one of three sites that make up the Grand County Historical Association, has an excellent exhibit on skiing’s beginnings. Hot Sulphur Springs has many firsts in snow-sports history, Niklas says. It was the destination for Colorado’s original ski train, the site of the first ski joring (skiers pulled by horses) in the state, and the home of at least two skiing Olympians. One of them, Barney McLean, is being honored this year at Winter Park with the designation of a site to be called “Barney’s Landing.”

A splendid history is one thing; current amenities for visitors are quite another. More than 100 years after that first winter carnival, Hot Sulphur Springs still offers visitors plenty. This year, a Winter Carnival (December 30, 2011 through February 11, 2012) will honor the 100th anniversary of the first carnival. The plan is to replicate the early carnivals, with ski races, fireworks, ski jumping demonstrations, ski joring, skating races, a parade, and a Grand Ball. Visitors will even have the chance to re-do that 40 mile ski journey that kicked off the original winter carnival.

Even before or after carnival time, Hot Sulphur Springs may be just the right destination. The closest ski area is just 14 miles away at Sol Vista, so it is possible for skiers to enjoy skiing followed by an après-ski soak. Or, reverse it; Sol Vista, in Granby, has night skiing for just $10. Winter Park is 29 miles, and Steamboat Springs is 69. If cross-country skiing or snowshoeing suits you, the town is surrounded by public lands.

The hot springs themselves are still offering the steamy soaks for pleasure or health. All the amenities around the hot water, of course, have been built and rebuilt over the decades. Most recently they were renovated in the late 1990s and are now pleasingly well kept. The water can look cloudy, but that’s just the minerals, such as sodium, sulfate, chloride, silica, potassium, calcium, fluoride, magnesium and trace elements of arsenic and lithium, according to resort literature.

Choose between 19 pools, from nearly scalding to barely tepid; you’re sure to find one that’s just right, or pool hop between them from steamy to bracing. A few pools are private (you can skip the swim suit). And as with any hot spring resort worth its salt, this one offers spa services that are very much au courant. This kind of pleasure is something I very much doubt those early visitors would have recognized.

Just in case skiing and soaking aren’t enough to fill your day, here are a bunch more winter options: dog sledding in Fraser; sleigh rides in Tabernash; ice fishing (or watching an ice fishing contest) at Green Mountain Reservoir; snow tubing at Sol Vista; or simply walking a mile to the town’s cemetery, which could be a movie set for Boot Hill. And if you prefer a “do nothing” get away? November is the quietest month of the year in Hot Sulphur Springs. And there’s something to be said for that as well.

TRIP TIPS

To Do:
Take the long way around to Hot Sulphur Springs via the “Trough Road,” County Rd 1. Take I-70 past Vail to Wolcott, then Highway 131 to State Bridge, then CR1 to 40. Turn right to Hot Sulphur Springs. This well-maintained dirt road is part of the Colorado River Headwaters Byway. It was a piece of the first transcontinental auto route, and was opened in 1911. Today it is scenic, quiet and a good place for a long conversation with a loved one. Don’t expect to find gas or food along the route.

To Experience:
Drive the much shorter Parshall Divide road just for kicks. Head west through Byers Canyon to Parshall, then north on a one-way dirt road. The road winds uphill, then back down to Hot Sulphur Springs, and can be a thrill; at least it was for me – as a passenger with a teenager in the driver’s seat. The road closes when winter conditions settle in.

To Buy:
Taste of the Rockies has been making souvenir rock candy since 1939, and in recent years has been doing the packaging and retailing from a storefront in Hot Sulphur Springs. If you like chocolates and vintage candy, it’s a fun place to shop; but the real treats are the “rock candy” – jelly beans in adult flavors, shaped and colored like pebbles on the beach. The owner, Dianne Hickman, is now excited about her new product: premium lip balm made with beeswax from a friend’s hive. These, too are in adult flavors: black walnut, honeyed chai and jalapeno balm – great stocking stuffers. Tasteoftherockies.net

To Soak:
Hot Sulphur Springs Resort and Spa is open 365 days of the year from 8 a.m. ‘til 10 p.m. The pools vary by temperature, size, and protection from the elements, but they share a water source that surfaces at well over 100 degrees. “Variety” is the key to the spa services, too – many choices within three categories: massages, facials, and body treatments, all at non-ski resort prices.
Hotsulphursprings.com, 970-725-3306

To Stay:
While Hot Sulphur Springs Resort has a variety of lodgings from motel rooms to a rustic cabin, we opted to stay at the Stagecoach Bed and Breakfast Inn, (phone 970-725-3324). Having opened its doors 1872 as a stagecoach stop, the Inn has been serving visitors ever since. These days many of the rooms have private baths, but for some, the water closet is down the hall. Run by Aurora transplants Christi Kruse and Paul Nimmerfroh and their teens Nick and Hunter, they seem the poster family for small-town hospitality. The price is right; the only way to stay between Winter Park and Steamboat Springs for less would be to build a snow cave.

In addition to writing The Enlightened Tourist column for Nexus, freelance writer Wendy Underhill has written features and investigative reports on a number of diverse topics.