Hot Springs Near Lava Creek
The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Near Lava Creek in the Northwest Arctic Borough, hot springs on Bureau of Land Management land come out at 127 degrees, hot enough to hurt. They are open to the public. Kotzebue is the nearest town, more than a hundred miles off. The springs lie roughly twenty-six miles from Ophir Road with nothing described in between.
BLM public land administered out of the Anchorage Field Office, about seven hundred feet up. Ophir Road is the last road; backcountry from there, and no trail is on record. Snow reaches about seven feet a year. Cold and dry otherwise: a mean in the upper twenties and precipitation a bit over two feet.
Open, free as far as the record shows. December, with January and February behind it, is the best month on file. No campground listed. Hot enough to burn; test before touching. Ophir Road is as far as roads go, and nothing on record covers what comes after.
USGS hasn't flown a detailed laser scan here yet, so this view comes from aerial photos and older elevation data.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 527 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.