Little Jamaica

Current status: closed and removed

Little Jamaica no longer exists as a place to swim. The Arizona Department of Transportation began dismantling it in November 2018. Crews took apart the pool, which visitors had built from sandbags held together with concrete, rerouted the spring that fed it so the water runs along the hillside instead, and planned a fence around the site so nobody could divert the spring again. The waterfall that gave the spot its name is gone.

The site sits inside the Interstate 15 right of way, on ADOT property. ADOT said in 2018 that people reaching the pool were trespassing and crossing steep slopes to get there. Federal land-status maps do not show it as public recreation land. There is no legal way to visit, and nothing left to swim in.

This page exists because Little Jamaica still turns up on hot spring lists and old blog posts, sometimes with directions. Treat any listing that sends you there as out of date.

It was never a hot spring

The “hot springs” label is wrong. Mesquite Local News described the water in 2017 as usually clear and cold, fed by springs on both sides of the I-15 bridge. A visitor who went in late April 2018 called it “a bit cold.” People came here in summer to cool off in the desert heat, not to soak.

What made the place popular was the look of it. Spring water dropped as a small waterfall into a pool about 3 to 5 feet deep, then ran on into the Virgin River below the freeway. For a few years it was a well-known free swimming hole for people from St. George, Mesquite and the small towns of the Arizona Strip.

What happened

Popularity brought problems. In 2017 Mesquite Local News reported discarded clothing, plastic bottles, beer packaging and broken glass all over the parking area and path, and said conditions were getting worse. Members of the local Rotary and Beaver Dam Interactive clubs had pulled 8 to 10 large bags of trash out of the area in the summer of 2016.

By 2018 ADOT had decided to remove the pool. A spokesperson told St. George News that the work would “address the maintenance burden and increased liability it creates for ADOT,” and that the site “frequently has trash, human waste and other types of waste and lacks water-quality monitoring.” A sergeant with the Arizona Department of Public Safety described law enforcement responding to crimes there and helping clean up debris. ADOT also cited bridge reconstruction planned for fiscal year 2020 on this stretch of I-15. The site had been busy until the end of the 2018 summer season. Not everyone welcomed the change. One regular told St. George News he was “kind of devastated” to see it go, but ADOT went ahead, and a March 2019 update tied the removal to the planned bridge work.

Where it was

Little Jamaica was beneath an Interstate 15 bridge over the Virgin River, in the Beaver Dam, Littlefield and Desert Springs area at the western end of the Virgin River Gorge, roughly 20 minutes south of St. George, Utah. Visitors used the Desert Springs exit, a frontage road and a rough dirt lot, then a steep, slick path of about 0.15 miles down toward the river. We are not giving turn-by-turn directions, because the site is closed and fenced. There is no viewpoint, parking area or interpretive sign, and nothing to stop for.

When to go

There is no season. The site is closed year-round. If you are in the area in summer, the Virgin River itself runs muddy and fast after storms, and the slopes below I-15 are not a safe place to scramble.

Rules and etiquette

• Do not enter the I-15 right of way or climb the fence. It is ADOT property and closed to the public.
• Do not try to rebuild the pool or redirect the spring. That was the reason for the fence.
• Do not park on the interstate shoulder or ramps.
• If you see Little Jamaica on a hot spring map, assume it is out of date.

Where to soak instead

There is no public hot spring nearby on the Arizona Strip. The closest well-known hot springs on public land in Arizona are in Black Canyon below Hoover Dam, including Arizona Hot Springs, a drive of two hours or more by way of Las Vegas. They are reached by a strenuous hike or by boat, and the National Park Service closes the hiking routes every year from May 15 to September 30 because of heat. In western Arizona, Kaiser Hot Springs on BLM land south of Wikieup is a small, free pool reached by an easy wash walk.

Where to stay nearby

Mesquite, Nevada, a few miles southwest on I-15, has casino hotels, restaurants and fuel. St. George, Utah, about 20 minutes north, has the widest choice of hotels and campgrounds in the region. Beaver Dam and Littlefield themselves are small communities with limited services.

Safety notes

• Trespass: the site is closed state property. Expect enforcement.
• Slopes: the old path to the pool was steep and slick, and the hillside below the freeway is unstable.
• Water quality: ADOT noted human waste at the site and no water-quality monitoring. Do not drink from or swim in the rerouted spring.
• Floods: the Virgin River can rise fast after storms upstream, even on a clear day at the bridge.