Four or five years ago, friends invited Chris McLaughlin, a fairly new resident of Fremont County in southern Colorado, to what was an exclusive New Year’s Day tradition at a little-known, hot spring-fed pool.

“It was extra special,” McLaughlin recalls. “I remember that first night, floating in the pool, staring at the stars, and I’m like, ‘I need to really change the course of my life.’”

Flash forward to today. McLaughlin, 42, finds himself in charge at Desert Reef Hot Springs near Florence. He would not use that phrase, “in charge.” The property of geothermal pools, big skies and mountain vistas, he knows, is for the community that took root here long before he arrived.

He has consulted with members of that community on major renovations at Desert Reef, what some have simply called “the Reef” or “home.” The oasis came into McLaughlin’s ownership two years ago, and he continues to seek guidance on the prospect of a more public future here.

“Everybody who works here was a regular, so that goes a long way,” McLaughlin says.

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Four pools have been added to the main one that has been lesser known at Desert Reef Hot Spring, near Florence in southern Colorado. Photo credit Ben Knight (

@ben_knight

)

Some reject his ideas, “and I want them to,” he says.

“If I have a concept that is not in the right direction for the place, I think that’s a big part of it. We all just stayed on a farm in Taos (N.M.) for the weekend, just to kind of regroup, celebrate what we’ve done so far and talk about those ideas for the future.”

What they’ve done so far: updated the electric and plumbing; added a bathhouse; added four pools; and added vintage Airstream trailers, overnight accommodations beside new, private dips. The plan is to add tiny homes for more overnight options. On a hillside where the original owner hid a safe, a shaded “hangout” has been built.

The website has been updated, topped with an “opening SOON” notice. The FAQ section lays out operations to come: visitation will be capped by reservations; guests must be at least 18; during a “limited opening period,” clothing will be optional, “but we intend to offer a clothing-required experience during all open hours once we are fully open.”

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“Desert Reef Hot Springs was originally created in 1986 as a labor of love and an effort to build a community, a secret and protected refuge from the world,” explains the Desert Reef website.

On the site’s landing page, a message is prominently displayed:

“Desert Reef Hot Springs was originally created in 1986 as a labor of love and an effort to build a community, a secret and protected refuge from the world. This intent rings true in the recent expansion and renovation of the hot springs completed in 2022.”

A man named LJ is credited with the creation, including a waterfall fashioned with cracked sidewalk from town. LJ died in 2017, leaving the land to his wife, who went by Ro. She entrusted McLaughlin with the place and has since moved to Hawaii.

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“To the best of my understanding,” McLaughlin says, “(LJ’s) goal was to live in a van on the property and make $50 a week. And if he could do that by letting in a handful of people, life was good.”

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Near Florence in southern Colorado, Desert Reef Hot Springs has recently expanded with Airstream trailers as overnight accommodations. A “limited opening” is expected soon.

That handful along with the memberships gave Desert Reef its quasi-public status. But still today, lifelong residents of Florence will tell McLaughlin they never knew about the place. Case in point: He says he went to get a demolition permit for a building, “and they were like, What building?”

“LJ worked really hard to keep it secret,” McLaughlin says.

Which is why McLaughlin hesitated to speak for this article. “I’ve been pretty hesitant to talk to a lot of folks,” he says. “I want it to be successful, but I don’t want it to blow up either.”

He wants more people to feel transformed as he did that New Year’s night. As a member of the local tourism board, he wants the region to realize its economic potential, to continue the momentum born by the Royal Gorge, rafting and mountain biking.

“The one thing that does motivate me is raising the income of folks that live in the county, and raising the job diversity in the county,” McLaughlin says. “I really care about the people who live here.”

He’s cared for seven years now, ever since he moved here and they cared for him in a time of grief.

He was a businessman in Chicago who suddenly lost his mom. The day she died, McLaughlin’s close friend and business partner found out he had cancer and died soon after.

“Everything just kind of blew up,” McLaughlin says. “I realized, ‘I’m working all the time, and life is short.’”

He wanted simplicity. He found that at Desert Reef.

Can that last? Goes one question on the website’s FAQ: Could the place get crowded?

“Gosh, we sure hope not,” goes the response, emphasizing the goal with reservations and limiting capacity.

“We’re trying to be really intentional with the growth,” McLaughlin says, “and asking that people are respectful of the place and the culture.”