by Robert Spuhler
It is easy to be at Castle Hot Springs and feel like you are in another world. Seven miles from paved road out in the Sonoran Desert, there’s no traffic, no public transit, no crowds. The resort feels untouched by the news of the day or the rat race; there are no televisions here, and the morning commute comes in the form of people walking to a hike, an adventure on the via ferrata climbing route, or a soak in one of the natural hot spring pools.
But being physically away from urban jungles and suburban sprawl isn’t the only reason why Castle Hot Springs feels like such an oasis. The resort was designed with a philosophy of self-sustenance in order to create as much of a “closed loop” as possible — the realization of which can make guests feel like they’re mentally away from the strains of day-to-day life, as well as physically.
By definition, a closed-loop system puts equal emphasis on all three parts of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” lifestyle to minimize environmental impact, supplying all the resources needed by a community via its surroundings and recycled waste. The implementation by Castle Hot Springs involves fully utilizing their available resources in a sustainable way so that the 1,100-acre resort can be as close to self-sufficient as possible.
The “loop” at Castle Hot Springs’ restaurant, Harvest, is familiar to anyone who’s dined at (or heard of) a farm-to-table eatery. Except while the relationship between said farm and table is usually tied together by a miles-long journey transporting produce from the field to the chef, at Harvest, it’s as immediate as it gets. The peppers (and greens and carrots and herbs) grow in the more than three-acre garden just steps away from the restaurant’s outdoor seating area. Order the micro greens salad, and what appears before you will have been harvested on-site that day. And while the titular protein of the Moroccan spice lamb may be from Colorado, the Romesco sauce uses the resort’s prodigious tomato yield as its base.
In addition to the restaurant, the farm also provides a lot for the entire resort. Upstairs from Harvest, the mixologists at Bar 1896 infuse vodka with farm-grown lemon verbena for the Blue Verbena cocktail, while the Sonoran Harvest Punch utilizes melons, cucumbers and mint from the property. And the gifts of desert agriculture are not just to be ingested: foot scrubs in the spa are made using citrus from the trees along the edges of the main green, for instance, while the wood oven that bakes the pizzas and naan is powered by firewood from trees cleared from the resort.
Furthering Castle Hot Springs’ closed-loop system is the water used for crops, which comes from the hot springs. That same water also heats the greenhouse and provides hydroelectricity to the entire resort.
All these loops create a feeling of tranquility when wandering the grounds. To walk alongside the creek emanating from the springs and know that that same water is giving life to everything around you builds an atmosphere of balance and calm. And even if these details aren’t front of mind at all times, the self-sustaining loop still remains, fueling the resort and connecting guests to the present moment.
Robert Spuhler is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers nightlife and lifestyle, music, movies, pop culture, technology, and government for LA Magazine, MSN, Complex, amNew York and San Francisco Chronicle.