We have visited quite a few hot springs while camping across the US during the past 15 years , so I…read morethink we have a pretty broad level of experience to draw from in order to offer a fair review, I'll start out by saying that not all hot springs and/or hot spring resorts are the right fit everyone. Joyful Journey was not the right fit for us.
To begin with, their location is amazing and has phenomenal potential. Framed by the mountains, nestled in the San Luis Valley and away from any major city and light source, our expectation of start gazing under dark skies from outdoor hot pools was very high - way too high. Joyful has just a handful of smaller concrete pools, and a couple of worn and tired fiberglass jacuzzies, which (except for the jacuzzies) are invidually illuminated at night by blazingly bright colored submersed flood lights, and connected by walkways also illuminated by relatively bright lights. Truthfully, we have seen darker skies in Walmart parking lots. With the exception of one 4 person jacuzzi that has an unobstructed view of the sky, , ALL the pools are fully or patially covered overhead in some way.
When I first called, I asked about all-night and exclusive access to the pools and was told that if we were camped there, we would have access all night (common to many other hot springs), and that after 8pm. pnly guests would be able to access the pools. Sadly, neither of those turned out to not be true. Access to the pools closed for everyone at 9:50PM, and although we were told at check in that day soakers would be leaving at 8, that did not happen. The reason that was an issue was because they do not limted the number of people who have access. With only a few pools, each was packed. the so-called "Quiet Pool" was not even slightly quiet with an abundance of families, children and noodles and playtime. We never saw anyone on staff make any attempt to enforce either the "please shower first" rule, or the "please be quiet and respectful" rule. In summary, we felt like Joyful is better described as "a nice KOA with a few hot pools".
My real disappointment is only slightly related to the hot springs, and more to management. Overnight, there was no staff or security anywhere to be found. We camped in a trailer in a wide open parking lot with hookups. Starting ast midnight, the camper that pulled in next to us turned on their generator, as well as their propane heaters which intermittedly howled, bellowed and droned on so loudly that we could not sleep at all. At 2am, 3am and 4 am, I walked that entire property looking for securtiy to ask that they call those campers, and 5:30 am, with tremdous reluctance I was finally diriven knock on their coach door and ask them to trun off their equipment so that we might ge a few hours of sleep before the days long drive. I was angerly cussed out but they complied...but then decided to turn everything back on 30 minutes later. I can honestly say that after 15 years of Walmarts, Cracker Barrels, Love's Truck Stops, Rest Areas and noisy campgrounds - that was the single worst overnight stay EVER.
In my opnion, a couple things would have dramaticaly improved our experience;
#1 - Limit the number of people allowed in
#2 - Turn of the super bight colered flood lights and replace all night lighting with low level red spectrum lighting that allows people to safely naviagte, but does not destroy night vision.
#3- Replace the worn out, over used jacuzzi tubs
#4 - Allow the overnight guests to have a period of restricted, adults only access
#5- Have a late -night, clothing optional period for overnight guests
#6- Pay someone to be on site or at least on call overnight. We should not have to be the ones to enforce rules.
