Indian Hot Springs
Indian Hot Springs, which Wikipedia also calls Holladay Hot Springs, is a hot spring and a named populated place in Graham County, eight miles or so from Pima. Hot water, around 118 on the record, and the 1940 sample shows a heavy mineral load. Hot Springs Road runs right past. The record does not name a landowner or say anything about access.
Roadside, a bit more than 150 feet off Hot Springs Road. Low desert, with a couple inches of snow in a winter and rain near ten inches. Year round average near seventy. No landowner is listed. Riggs Lake is the nearest campground on file, about twenty miles out. A photograph is attached.
The record names December through February as best. You can reach it from the car. The water sits above 110, hot enough to hurt, so test before getting in. Ownership and access are unknowns, and the place is a populated settlement by Wikipedia's account, so expect to ask. Riggs Lake, some distance away, is where the record puts camping. Chemistry is from 1940.
Wikipedia lists Indian Hot Springs as a populated place in Graham County, Arizona, under the alternate name Holladay Hot Springs. A USGS water sample dates to October 1940.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Indian Hot Springs.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the east.
- Highest ground nearby
- 76 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the east
A slice through the ground from west to east, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 44% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Indian Hot Springs contains 3200 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits), and total dissolved solids (higher mineral concentration for therapeutic soaking).
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Overview Riggs Flat Lake is located at the end of Swift Trail, a road that winds along the top of the Pinaleno Mountains. It is a small picturesque lake, 11 acres in size, set in alpine forest and meadow. Its cold waters are stocked during the summer with rainbow, brown and brook trout, and anglers report that the fishing is usually good. Best baits for the rainbows are corn, cheese, garlic cheese, salmon eggs, and worms. The brown and brook trout are taken on artificial lures and flies as we...
Indian Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key. Bring sun protection for exposed soaking.
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