The natural beauty of New Mexico isn't hard to find. Everywhere one turns, there it is: in the white-capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the taupes and sienas of the sprawling mesas, the brilliant sunsets. But this doesn't mean there isn't natural beauty worth hiking for as well. The geothermal hot springs which dot nearly the entire state aren't always easy to find - but they're worth the journey. On a crisp December day, I set off with my wife and my spry 59-year-old mother into the pine forests of the 1.6m-acre Santa Fe national forest in search of the San Antonio hot springs. A thin blanket of snow crunched underfoot. The idea of disrobing and jumping into a pool of water in the frigid winter air seemed like madness.
It didn't have to be this way. A scourge of high-end spas have recently descended upon New Mexico. At one of the newest, the Encantado, a few miles outside Santa Fe, we could have soaked in a luxurious sauna while paying $975 a night. But we wouldn't really have visited New Mexico - only a theme-park version of it. We wanted to go to hot springs without being handed chilled towels by waiters with forced smiles or forking out a small fortune. Luckily there are hundreds of natural springs across the state that are either free or cost a pittance.
For two hours we followed the San Antonio Creek snaking through the Jemez Mountains. After four miles, we came to a fork at a small car park. We followed a trail downhill, crossed a footbridge, and clambered up the mountain on the other side. A quarter of a mile up, we came to three cascading pools. The top pool, closest to the source, is both the largest and hottest. With our cheeks rosy and our fingers numb from the hike, we quickly changed into our bathing suits - nudity is prohibited - and waded in. It took my breath away. Not just the heat and the weightlessness of immersion, but the view. On the far side of the valley, great cliffs of multi-hued limestone rose from lush green firs. After an hour or so, when our skin was well and truly wrinkled, we started the trek home. As dusk turned to night, thousands of stars poked through the sky.
For native Americans, the land surrounding hot springs is considered sacred and common ground: rival clans could come and soak in peace as long as they left their weapons at home. More than 200 years later, hot springs are still fertile meeting grounds. We met John, a heavily bearded yogi living out of his van, at the Spence hot springs. A short, steep hike from Route 25, Spence is small but popular, and in my book the most beautiful spring in the state. Locals from the pueblo of Jemez have been coming here for years. There used to be a good deal of partying going on - much of it naked and involving beer - before US Forest Service rangers clamped down. Now the springs are back to their peaceful state, but you still meet colourful characters, like John, who was full of advice: eating raw kale heals damaged cartilage, earthly possessions are overrated, rubbing oneself with baby oil after soaking in a hot springs is better than drying with a towel ...
Though Albuquerque and Santa Fe are both rife with dining options, from roadside taquerias to high-end nouvelle New Mexican, I'd recommend a bar called The Owl in San Antonio. This unassuming place is home to the famed Green Chile Cheeseburger, which comes slathered in spicy green chile and American cheese. If you're based in Albuquerque, make sure you stop at hard-to-find-but-worth-it Veracruz restaurant, Los Equipajes. Veracruz cuisine, unlike most Mexican food, is largely fish based, and the huachinango a la Veracruzana (grilled snapper fillet) is not to be missed.
New Mexico, like the rest of the west, used to be crisscrossed with railroads serving mining outposts. The mines and railroads are long gone but they've left small, quirky towns in their place. Even these boast hot springs. Las Vegas in northern New Mexico used to be a hub for uranium mining. Its roadside hot springs are immaculately maintained, yet not fussy at all. On the banks of the Galinas River, overlooked by the beautiful Burnham and Root-designed medieval castle, the Montezuma hot springs consist of three groupings of pools. At 59 degrees, the top pool is the hottest hot spring in all holy hell. It took a full 10 minutes of gradual dipping before I could ease myself in up to my shoulders. It's deep enough that you can't touch the bottom, but there's a ledge. Thank God. For a chubby eight-year-old named Jeremiah, visiting from Wisconsin, "it's no big deal". Jeremiah jumped in, emerging a few minutes later looking, according to his cousin Lydia, "like a tomato. A bright red tomato".
Another stop on our hunt was a town called Truth or Consequences, two hours south of Albuquerque. It was originally called Hot Springs, but when the host of a popular 50s game show called Truth or Consequences promised to broadcast an episode in the first town that changed its name to the show's title, Hot Springs officially became Truth or Consequences.
This ramshackle town has an unlikely number of thermal baths. A few retro motels offer hot springs that flow from an underground cistern. By far the most scenic is the Riverbend Hot Springs, a colourful old motel at the end of Austin Street. Its three pools sit on the banks of the Rio Grande creek, looking out over Turtleback Mountain. As any spa hound will tell you, Riverbend has some of the best water around. It's high in sodium, calcium, magnesium and strontium - and is damn hot. The pool closest to the source frequently tops 108 degrees, though by the time the waters feed into the lower pools, it has gone from scalding to hot to warm. I eased into the hottest. Muscle knots melted away.
Around the corner, the baby-blue-and-white stucco La Paloma Hot Springs & Spa bathhouse seems lifted from the 1920s. In fact, it is. Though renovated in 2003, the bathhouse is 80 years old, and still feels like a turn-of-the-century spa. There are four terrifically austere gravel-filled pools, each in a private room for a more introspective soaking experience. You can soak by the half hour ($6) or hour ($10).
In a week's worth of soaking, we spent $50 - and wore out a pair of hiking shoes. But more than that, we waded deep into the waters of New Mexico, and that isn't something you can buy, even from the most luxurious resort.
Way to go
Getting there: Trailfinders (0845 050 5892, trailfinders.com) has flights from Heathrow to Albuquerque via Minneapolis, with Northwest Airlines,
from £389 rtn inc tax, valid until 5 June.
Where to stay: Casas De Suenos , Albuquerque (00 52 505 247 4560, casasdesuenos.com), from $119. Hotel St Francis , Santa Fe ( +505 983 5700, hotelstfrancis.com), from $85. Riverbend Hot Springs , Truth or Consequences (+575 894 7625, riverbendhotsprings.com), from $85.
La Paloma Hot Springs & Spa, Truth or Consequences (+575 894 3148, lapalomahotspringsandspa.com) , from $50. Further information New Mexico Tourism Department (newmexico.org).
