Broadwater Hot Springs

Broadwater Hot Springs & Fitness is a hot springs pool and fitness club at 4920 West U.S. Highway 12, about ten minutes west of downtown Helena, Montana, beside Ten Mile Creek. The operator describes a 25,000-square-foot facility with soaking pools, a sauna and steam room, a fitness floor and The Springs Taproom & Grill, and calls it family owned. The water history goes back to the 1860s. The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology says Wassweiler's Hot Springs became a public swimming pool in 1866, about 2 kilometers from today's club, and that by 1889 the Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium had been built for more than $500,000. An earthquake damaged the natatorium in 1935, and it was torn down in 1946. In its 2016 survey, the bureau says four hot springs supply the club. They are covered and not directly accessible, and their 64°C (147°F) water is piped into a storage pool at about 320 liters a minute, then mixed and regulated around the facility. Earlier reports mention a well near the springs, but the bureau sampled the spring water and lists the site as a spring. NOAA's thermal springs survey lists it at 151°F. The operator keeps the soaker hot pools at 97 to 102°F and the upper-deck Springs Pools at 57 to 104°F, with cold plunges at 50 to 59°F. Single admission is $17 for adults Monday through Thursday and $22 Friday through Sunday and on holidays, with lower rates for kids, seniors and military and a 3% card fee. No reservation or membership is needed. Swimwear is required, outside drinks aren't allowed, and the pools open at 6 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends.

Sources: broadwatermt.com (1), broadwatermt.com (2), broadwatermt.com (3), broadwatermt.com (4), mbmg.mtech.edu, doi.pangaea.de

Broadwater Hot Springs, in Helena, Montana, is within a quarter mile of a road a car can reach — filed as sedan / 2wd. Development here is resort or spa level, on the operator's own site. Reported temperature on this listing is 102°F. Expect the $$ entry band on this listing and amenities on file include food on-site and massage/spa. Expect clothing required, on the operator's own site.