Devils Bathtub Trailhead — Attraction in Spearfish

This place was stupid. There are no signs. It is a free-for-all to figure out which way to go. Basically you can just go on either side of the river or in the river. It is not hard hiking but it is slippery so west proper water, hiking shoes or sandals like teva, keen or chacos.

The problem is that people sucked here. The trails are small and there were so many groups of like 10-20 plowing thru with their off-leash dogs too. They expect you, the solo person to stop. So I had to stop a lot.

I went on a Monday around 9am and it was crazy busy in late July. I saw many people with bad shoes and too old or unhealthy to be doing it. I saw one with a broken hand.

I personally got lost up a side spur up a little hill because there are no signs at all. Coming from Wyoming where they mark the trees, this was concerning.

Anyway, I am sure it is great in off-peak season but I did not even make it to the bathtub. I gave up not because I couldn’t make it. I didn’t feel like getting to there and then seeing it look like the city pool.

I did manage to get myself away from everyone in several places and find my own soaking holes away from the loud. This is not serene nature in a pristine setting. If you want that keep driving to Wyoming.

I would say make sure your cellphone is in a waterproof case here as...

This is a great natural water slide, given the right conditions. It had just stormed the day before our hike, and it hailed while on the hike, thus the water level was much higher than you see in many other pictures on here. There were areas where we had to hang on to the edges of rocks to travel along the flooded 'path'. Also for July the water was really really cold due to the rain! If the water level is high, this is not a family friendly hike at all, but it looks fine if it hasn't rained recently based on other folks' pictures. In many instances where we crossed the creek the water was well above our knees (adults) and the current made it hard to stay standing. Also we had to cross the creek seven or eight times going, and all again coming back. There were other hikers on the trail who turned back without reaching the slides because it was so dangerous and they couldn't find the orange path markers. We eventually found the way but all in all it took a few hours. I lost footing at one point on the way back to the car, was swept into the water, got pushed down a slide by the current, fell into a pool over my head (I'm 5'3") and I had to swim in fast moving water to grasp onto a mossy rock. Still would rate the experience positively, because once we got there it...

The hardest part is figuring out where you are going, how to get to the bathtub and if you are actually at the right place. Park at the parking lot then you walk parallel to the river until you run into another gravel area then cross the bridge to the trailhead. It seemed like there were trails along both side of the creek once we got back into the trail although it’s easier to cross through the creek at times. We did this hike with our kids in crocs which was fine. But if you have hiking sandals that would be easier as the rocks are slick in places. Once we arrived at the first place where people were sliding we thought that was the only slide. We found out 30 minutes later there was a larger slide further up the creek. Getting to that part was easier to go through the creek as the trails are steep and more on the edge with drop offs. The larger slide was super fun and all of us did it even our 4 year old. The tough part is getting down into the slide area as it’s steep and slippery. Definitely worth the hike and it’s beautiful throughout even with lots of people...