Granite Hot Springs winter
— — a hot pool at the end of a snowed-in road.
Not only on a wall.
“Once the snow comes the road up Granite Creek closes to cars, and the ten miles in are for snowmobiles, fat bikes, skis, and the dog sled outfit that runs the winter trail. The pool sits at the end of it: a CCC-built concrete basin from the 1930s, fed by a creekside spring, holding somewhere around a hundred degrees through the coldest months. Steam rises off the surface against snow-loaded firs. People come out of the water pink and quiet. The road back is the same ten miles, dark by four. — from the studio
Granite Hot Springs winter, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Granite Hot Springs is a single concrete soaking pool in Bridger-Teton National Forest, fed by a hot spring on the bank of Granite Creek. It sits at about 7,068 feet roughly ten miles up Granite Creek Road from its junction with U.S. Highway 191 at Hoback Junction, southeast of Jackson, Wyoming. The pool and the adjacent campground were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 and are still operated as a fee-use recreation site by the Forest Service. The water temperature in the pool runs around the low 100s°F in winter and somewhat cooler in summer when more creek water mixes in.
Winter is a different place than summer here. From roughly late December through March, Granite Creek Road is closed to cars and becomes a groomed oversnow corridor. The ten miles in are travelled by snowmobile, fat bike, cross-country ski, and a local dog sled operator that has run the route for decades. Snowfall in the Hoback drainage averages roughly 200 inches a season, and the spruce-fir along the creek hold the snow heavily. The pool stays open through it all. The contrast between the cold air above the water and the spring temperature is what most visitors remember.
In winter the pool is reached only by oversnow travel from a plowed parking area at the bottom of Granite Creek Road off U.S. Highway 191. A round trip on snowmobile takes a few hours; by ski or fat bike it is a full day. A small day-use fee is collected at the pool, currently $10 per adult as of the 2026 season, and the on-site bathhouse offers changing rooms but limited facilities. The closest town is Jackson, about 35 miles northwest. Dog sled trips run on a fixed schedule through several Jackson outfitters and book up well in advance for the holiday weeks.