Since Norm K., Daniel S., and Jessie B. covered the important information, I won't be as detailed. This was an incredible hike. Eric R. and I are co-chairs for a young professional outdoor club, for which I have no idea who decided I was qualified. We had already dragged groups to Death Valley for hiking/exploring and Mt. Charleston for a snow day, so we moved our sights to Arizona. This hike came highly recommended and we went for it.
We had 11 people meet up at The District at 9 AM on this perfect day (yesterday/Sunday) and carpooled over to the trailhead (mile marker 4 into AZ on the 93). We decided to take the washes route (one of 3 options, other than White Rock Canyon trail and mountains route). The hike started downhill, which foreshadowed the uphill return in the same direction. Two of our group had hiked this previously but many years prior.
I suppose I should mention that more than half of the group was very experienced, so we had every possible need covered (sunscreen, first aid, multiple pairs of socks, water shoes, frozen water that melted throughout the day, gatorade, snacks, lunches, towels, swimsuits, kleenex, antibac for bathrooms...you name it, someone had it). I recommend using a camelbak - I actually had half my water left at the end of the hike, which surprised me considering it was all day and long. I think I was worried about running out so I was not drinking enough, but Eric R. had a frozen bottle that was melting throughout the day so I drank from that too.
The downhill hike was through several canyons so we got to experience shade and sun and breezes as we headed to the Colorado River. Hiking along the ridge was stunningly beautiful. When we reached the warning sign about the brain-eating amoeba (do not let water get in your nose!), we took a side trip to the bathrooms near some campers. They were stocked with toilet paper which was a nice surprise.
Then we switched into water shoes at that point and started hiking up the wet rock until we reached the ladder (about 15 to 20 feet of a climb) to the hot springs pools. Everyone climbed up and enjoyed these pools. Two experienced hikers in the group decided to hike through the pools to go back the mountains route (which had several drop offs they had to go up that were up to 30 feet high). They ended up finishing the hike an entire hour before the 9 of us so they waited in the parking lot because they were carpooling with some of us (woops - they wished they had hung out in the hot springs pools longer!)
The 9 of us headed back uphill through the washes route, which was challenging (there is around a 600 feet elevation climb on the return). Eric R. and I ran into his coworkers who were hiking down as we were heading up - small world! We took a few breaks for water, shade, and to enjoy the breeze. Overall, with the hike, stopping to eat/rest a few times, and enjoying the hot springs pools, we returned to parking after 5.5 hours (10:00AM-3:30PM) and returned to Henderson around 4:15PM. It was a very rewarding day and all of us had a great time. I recommend you reapply sunscreen throughout and bring a camelbak or backpack with lots of water. Eric R. brought his backpack so he could carry our water shoes, frozen water bottle, and some food, and he has a camelbak sleeve with drinking tube that he can slide in the backpack. At the end of the washes route, you hike underneath the 93 and you are just about back to the parking lot!!