Arizona Hot Spring: the winter hike to a river hot tub

By the ThingsVegas Editorial Team | Published November 10, 2026 | Last reviewed: November 10, 2026

The Arizona Hot Spring fills a slot canyon on the Colorado River below Hoover Dam, and the only land route is a strenuous hike with a 20 foot ladder. The trails are open now and close May 15. This guide plans the winter window.

Prices last checked: November 10, 2026. Last reviewed: November 10, 2026. Sources are named on this page; check the official page before you pay, because prices and hours change.

Is the trail open right now?

Yes, and this is the season. Per the National Park Service pages for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, updated October 13, 2026 and checked again November 10, 2026, the Arizona Hot Spring trails close every year from May 15 to September 30 because summer heat in the canyons kills. Outside those dates the park can still close the trails on any day when the Willow Beach forecast reaches 95 degrees Fahrenheit or flash floods threaten. November to April is the working window, with December and January adding one constraint of their own: short daylight. The loop wants an early start in winter, full stop. The springs themselves never close; when the land route shuts, they stay reachable by water on Lake Mohave, which is where our Lake Mead and Emerald Cave kayak guide takes over.

How does the loop work?

Both trails start at the same pullout on US-93 on the Arizona side, about 4 miles past Hoover Dam, and the loop direction that works is down White Rock Canyon to the Colorado River, along the shore to the hot spring canyon, up past the pools and the ladder, and back to the highway by the second canyon. White Rock earns the descent because its gravel wash is the easier walking when your legs are fresh, and the hot spring canyon earns the climb because the pools sit in it: you soak first, then climb. The river stop between the canyons is the lunch spot, and pit toilets sit 200 yards downstream from the springs by the river, per NPS. Allow half a day at a steady pace, more with a long soak, and read the park's own Arizona Hot Springs Trail page on the morning you go, because a heat or flood closure can post outside the fixed season.

What is the ladder really like?

Honestly: it is a fixed metal ladder, about 20 feet tall, set in a small waterfall where the two canyons join, and it is climbable by fit hikers who are comfortable on ladders with wet rungs. It is also the trip's decision point, and this page will not dress that up. Anyone who cannot climb a ladder, anyone hiking with a dog, and anyone whose knees object to the strenuous rating should take the water route instead of discovering the ladder at the bottom of a canyon. There is no shame in that trade: the kayak version reaches the same springs from the river, and our kayak guide prices it. What the ladder is not is optional on the loop. Out and back by the hot spring canyon avoids repeating it in one direction only, so plan the route around your group's honest answer, not around optimism.

What should you carry?

• Water, all of it. No water exists anywhere on the route and no tap waits at the trailhead. Use the planner above and treat its numbers as floors, not targets.
• Footwear for wet rock. The canyon floor and the ladder are wet. Grippy shoes you can soak beat dry boots you have to protect.
• A dry bag. Phones and car keys ride through a waterfall climb. One small dry bag protects the whole group's electronics.
• A swimsuit under hiking clothes, a towel, and a change left in the car. The pools are the point of the walk.
• A headlamp in winter. Not for the plan, for the delay. The canyons have no reliable cell service, so a late group navigates by its own light.

Pair the hike with the dam country around it: Boulder City is the food and fuel stop on the way back, and the springs make the strongest winter half day in our whole day trip set precisely because the calendar protects them. Summer visitors reading this in June should not improvise a dawn version. The closure exists because people died on these trails, and the river route is the summer answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Arizona Hot Spring trail open in November?

Yes. Per the National Park Service, the Lake Mead trails to the Arizona Hot Spring close every year from May 15 to September 30 for lethal heat, and they can also close on other days when the Willow Beach forecast reaches 95 degrees Fahrenheit or flash floods threaten. November sits in the middle of the open season, which runs to May 14. During the land closure the springs stay reachable by water on Lake Mohave.

How hard is the hike, and what is the ladder?

The National Park Service rates the hike strenuous and states that the trail is not maintained. The two trails from the US-93 trailhead combine into a loop of 5.69 miles, or 5 miles out and back, per NPS distances. The canyons connect at a 20 foot ladder set in a waterfall. Fit hikers climb it routinely, but it is the decision point of the trip: if a ladder in wet rock is a no for anyone in your group, the kayak route is the honest alternative.

How hot is the water, and what are the safety rules?

The spring source runs 111 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, per the National Park Service, and the canyon pools step down from there as the water flows. Keep spring water out of your nose, because NPS posts an amoeba warning for thermal waters. Do not alter the free flowing pools, which NPS prohibits, use no glass, and carry every drop of your drinking water in with you: there is no water anywhere on the route and no reliable cell service in the canyons.

What does the trip cost?

The hike itself has no ticket. The springs sit inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area, so the recreation area entry fee applies, listed at $25 per vehicle on our Lake Mead kayak guide from NPS fee listings. The trailhead is a highway pullout on US-93 on the Arizona side, about 4 miles past Hoover Dam, with no services. Your real costs are fuel, water and food, plus the early start that winter daylight demands.