Back in 2009 during my birthday weekend – late September – my eldest daughter and her husband, along with my youngest daughter and myself, all traveled to Monroe Utah from Kanab Utah to visit the Mystic Hot Springs situated there! We arrived on that Friday afternoon, on my actual birthday and stayed until that Sunday evening.

I had never been to a hot springs before so the entire idea of it was completely brand new for me, I really didn’t know what to expect! When we got there I could see that it was set up as an RV and Tent campsite in one area with public showers and bathrooms for their use. There was also the main building which housed the staff and from where the operations of the hot springs were handled.

In this section, there were three small cabins that could be rented out, if you didn’t have an RV or tent equipment, so we rented the bigger of the three which had two queen sized beds, but no bathroom. If you needed that facility you would go to the main building; and when they were closed, you would have to make your way in the moonlight, through the desert to find the public restrooms, kinda creepy, lol!!

The Hot Spring itself was located deep in the ground and the opening from which it was being drawn was located on top of the slope that acted as back drop for the main building and where the owners were able to harness the spring water and bring it forth into a giant vat in which you could soak in the vibrant, frothing, fragrant sulfur spring!!

As the spring is being brought forth, it is also falling as a waterfall from the top of the mountain down to an area below, where there is a natural circular pool with a rock outcropping from the center, that in a weird way reminded me of a mexican sombrero (hat). In this area, one could simply sit under the waterfall of the hot, fragrant sulfur water or swim around the cooler water as it circulates around the outcropping. From this area one can look up and see the vat that is being filled through a pipe and which one has to enter by going up a flight of stairs and then descending onto another flight of stairs into the vat itself.

That entire weekend, all three cabins had been rented out and the campsite was doing a brisk business, so they were fairly busy all three days! However, on Sunday morning – and it wasn’t even that early – I’d say it was about 10 in the morning when I made my way to the springs which one had to access through a slight rising slope. As I climbed and got nearer the top, I could gradually see the springs and the vat and the first thing that I noticed was that there was no one around! I was somewhat surprised at this actually, since as I stated earlier, it wasn’t that early, I figured all kinds of people would be in the pools by now, but no, it was just me!! So I took off my sandals and place them in the cubbies made just for that and I proceeded to climb the first set of stairs leading up to the vat and then I began climbing down the second set of stairs actually leading into the vat.

The water was extremely hot as I first stepped into it, but eventually my body acclimated and I made my way to the center of this cement vat. Now this vat is situated in such a way that it actually sits above the aforementioned waterfall and overlooks the mexican hat area on one side and the roof of the main building on the other side. The vat is approximately 10 ft. sq. and about 4 ½ foot deep, give or take. The hot spring is being pumped through a pipe that empties into a corner of the vat near the stairs. As the water is being emptied, it invariably flows over the edges and cascades quite loudly onto the pool below on one side and the rear sidewalk of the main building on the other side.

So there I was, approximately in the center of this vat, in a semi-squat position, just kind of resting on the water, kinda floaty like, but feet planted firmly on the ground. The water was really hot and extremely bubbly and aerated and the scent of sulfur was very strong, so strong in fact, that I could actually taste it! Something else to add to this picture was the fact that it was slightly drizzling, a very slight cool rain was falling down upon me as I was situated in this pool of extremely hot water! Another thing I noticed was that although it was cloudy that morning, there actually was a quite large patch of blue sky coming through and it kind of played with my senses because of the rainfall I was currently experiencing!

I believe it was because of this – all five of my senses being on high alert if you will – that I had the experience that I ended up having. I mean there I was “feeling” the hot spring water as well as the cool rain (touch), “smelling” and “tasting” the sulfur (scent and taste), I was “hearing” the loud, cascading water as it overflowed to the ground and pool below (sound), and I was “seeing” my surroundings, the clouds, the blue sky and the beautiful Utah Scenery before me (sight), that it was as if a Sixth sense was suddenly activated, because what happened next, well let me just say, it has not been easy for me to convey, because, frankly, words fail!! I mean, I didn’t know anything about spiritual or mystical experiences, this was all new to me!!

It was as if the five senses condensed into one, like sharp laser focus and created this pinpoint of awareness where suddenly I was no longer me, living in this “human” form, no all at once I felt myself, literally “one with everything” like the Buddhists are prone to say, literally! And even as I am having this experience, I find myself asking this question: “How can I be experiencing myself as “all that is” whilst at the same time, still being “me,” this puny little human?! I don’t know how long the moment lasted in actual time, but for me it felt both momentary in nature as well as infinite, as if there were no such thing as “time! I literally felt myself as the central core of everything and that everything – all of creation – emanated through and from me, that it was me, it was awesome, I could literally feel myself being “pulled,” magnetically in all directions, a tension of sorts, but not an uncomfortable or intolerable tenseness, no, more of a “natural” tension, like wearing really comfortable clothing, or better yet, like being in the womb, I would imagine!!

To this day, I haven’t been able to “reproduce” that moment and when it first happened to me, I didn’t know what it was I had experienced. It actually took me until very recently – within the last few months or so – that I understood that I actually had a “Mystical” experience at a place called the Mystic Hot Springs!! Add to the fact that I am learning about the “Spiritual” nature of the four corners of the U.S., Utah being one of those four corners, well it just adds more “spiritual” weight, if you will, to the entire experience as far as I’m concerned! So that’s my story, what do you all think? Have any of you ever experienced aything similar?! Just Wondering!!