Ogden Hot Springs (Ogden Canyon Hot Pots)

The short version

Ogden Hot Springs is closed. The pools are on private property at the mouth of Ogden Canyon, the landowner has asked the Weber County Sheriff’s Office to enforce no trespassing, and people found there are cited. UDOT has also banned parking along State Route 39 near the site. This page explains what the springs were, why they closed and where to soak legally instead.

What the springs were

Hot water seeps out along the Ogden River just inside the mouth of Ogden Canyon, on the east edge of the city. Over many years, visitors shaped a series of small, informal pools on the riverbank below the highway, which locals call the “hot pots.” There was never any official facility, staff or maintenance.

Many of the pools sit below the river’s high-water mark, so they flooded and disappeared each spring when snowmelt came down the canyon, then reappeared when the water dropped. That made them mostly a fall and winter spot. We found no reliable published temperature for the pools, so we do not give one here.

The site’s popularity was also its problem. Trash, cars parked on the narrow canyon highway and people dashing across SR-39 on foot all drew complaints for years.

Why it closed

The springs have been off limits for a long time. Access was restricted at least as far back as 2013, during canyon road construction, and UDOT added fencing on the canyon side when it rebuilt the road several years later. People kept tearing the fence open and wearing a trail down to the water.

Two events pushed officials to act. In 2022, an Ogden woman died after being found unresponsive in one of the pools. Then on January 30, 2024, emergency crews were called to the site twice in one afternoon and evening for unresponsive men. Each time, Ogden firefighters used a ladder truck to lift the patient up to the road because the icy trail was too dangerous to carry them out, and SR-39 was closed in both directions for about an hour. Both men survived.

Two weeks later, the Weber County Sheriff’s Office announced that the landowner had signed a letter of agency letting deputies enforce no trespassing on the property. Deputies and Utah Highway Patrol troopers began regular patrols, and anyone found past the signs is cited. UDOT put up no-parking signs along the highway at the same time.

Is there any legal access?

Not at present. Some soakers have argued for a prescriptive easement on the old trail, based on decades of public use. A University of Utah law professor told the Standard-Examiner that such claims need roughly 20 years of continuous use without the owner’s permission and are hard to prove. Utah law also treats most riverbeds as private: the Public Waters Access Act of 2010, upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in 2023, does not give the public a right to walk on private streambeds. No plan for legal access has been announced. Until something changes, visiting the hot pots means trespassing.

The springs are also not on public land. Although Ogden Canyon leads into the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, federal land-status data shows the spring site as private.

Getting there

We are not giving directions to the pools. The site is at the mouth of Ogden Canyon on SR-39 (Ogden Canyon Road), and there is no legal parking or trail to it.

If you want to spend time in the canyon, there are legal options right next door:

• Ogden River Parkway: A paved path that follows the river from the mouth of the canyon down through the city.
• Indian Trail (#112): A Forest Service trail on the Ogden Ranger District that climbs along the ridge above the canyon. Start from the 22nd Street Trailhead in Ogden, or from the Coldwater Canyon Trailhead 1.4 miles up the canyon on the south side of the highway, just past the 11 mile marker. Both have parking and a kiosk but no water or toilets. The trail crosses private land in places, and the Forest Service warns of rattlesnakes.

When to go

There is no good time to visit the hot pots, because they are closed all year. For the alternatives below, winter and early spring are the classic soaking season in northern Utah, and both are open year-round.

Rules

• No trespassing. The property is posted and enforced, and the sheriff issues citations.
• No parking on SR-39 near the springs. The signs are UDOT’s, and they are enforced.
• Do not climb the fence or the canyon slope. The slope is steep and icy for much of the winter, which is exactly why rescues here have needed a ladder truck.

Where to soak instead

• Crystal Hot Springs, Honeyville: A commercial hot springs pool complex about 30 miles north of Ogden off I-15, with set hours and fees.
• Stinking Hot Springs, near Corinne: Three free roadside concrete tubs on SR-83 west of Brigham City. They are rough and smell strongly of sulfur. See our Stinking Hot Springs guide.

Where to stay nearby

Ogden has the full range of hotels, especially downtown along 25th Street. Up the canyon, the Pineview Reservoir area in Ogden Valley has Forest Service campgrounds that open in summer, as well as lodging around Eden and Huntsville for the ski resorts.

Safety notes

• Moving water: Pools below the high-water mark of a mountain river are a hazard in spring, when flows rise fast and the water is cold.
• Slope and ice: The informal trail from the road is steep, loose and often icy.
• Traffic: SR-39 is narrow and busy at the canyon mouth. Pedestrians crossing it were one of the reasons for the parking ban.
• Legal risk: A trespassing citation is the most likely outcome of a visit.