About this permit
Conundrum Hot Springs sits at about 11,200 feet in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, roughly 8.5 miles up the Conundrum Creek valley. Overnight permits are required and come only from Recreation.gov.
Unlike the Four Pass Loop zones, Conundrum is booked by numbered campsite. There are 20 of them, and the Forest Service rule is explicit: permit holders "must camp in their reserved zone each night, or at their reserved campsite at Conundrum Hot Springs, Crater Lake, and Capitol Lake." Each site carries its own group-size cap: nine sites take a maximum of two people, nine take four, and only sites 17 and 18 take six.
Permits are released in three rolling windows each year at 8am Mountain Time: February 15 for April 1 through July 31, June 15 for August 1 through November 30, and October 15 for December 1 through March 31. There is no lottery.
The route
The trail runs from the Conundrum Creek Trailhead up the valley to the springs at about 11,200 feet, roughly 17 miles round trip. The trailhead is outside the Maroon Scenic Area, which means you do not need a parking or shuttle bus reservation to get here, but the Forest Service still asks you to carpool, because the parking is limited.
Booking is site-specific. The 20 numbered campsites carry individual group-size limits: sites 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 16 cap at two people, sites 3, 4, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 20 cap at four, and sites 17 and 18 cap at six. Site 1 sits about 300 feet from the hot springs and site 2 about 400 feet, so the numbers closest to the water go first.
The rules at the springs are stricter than elsewhere in the wilderness. Dogs are prohibited in the designated campsites here, campfires are prohibited at all of them, and overnight pack and saddle stock are not allowed at any designated campsite in the Conundrum Hot Springs permit zone.
Why it matters
Conundrum is the one corner of this wilderness where the Forest Service abandoned the zone model entirely. There are 20 numbered campsites, each with its own group-size cap, and you camp at the one you reserved. The sites are small on purpose: eleven of the twenty take a maximum of two people, and only sites 17 and 18 take six.
The feeling
The walk in is long and steady rather than steep, following the creek up the valley. Then you top out and there is steam coming off the rock. You get your site, set up, and go soak while the light drains off the peaks above. There are no toilets up here, so you handle that yourself, and no fires at any of the designated sites. It is a stove-and-headlamp evening, which suits the place.
