Spring
Listed under the bare name Spring, this is a tepid seep in Tonto National Forest, eight or so miles from Pine in Gila County. The nearest road is Fossil Creek Road 708. Access is open. On a mild day the water reads barely above the air, which rules out soaking.
This is higher, cooler country than most of Arizona's thermal springs, above four thousand feet with close to two feet of snow most winters and seventeen inches of rain. Five hundred feet or so on foot from the road. Forest Service land, national forest designation. Clear Creek Campground is the nearest listed, about twelve miles out.
Winter is listed as best, though with two feet of snow a year the road may not be reliable then; check Forest Service conditions for Road 708. Short walk in. The water sampled in 1978 ran alkaline, above eight on the pH scale, with iron present. That is the only chemistry on file, and it is old. Temperature is tepid.
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 Spring.
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
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 590 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
A slice through the ground from north to south, 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 40% 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 Spring is slightly alkaline (pH 8.2). It is notably rich in magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief).
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Overview This cozy group campground is tucked in the Lower Sonoran Desert along the banks of the fresh, chilly Clear Creek. Campers can wade in the creek, fish, or curl up with a book under the umbrella of cottonwood trees. Another popular pastime here is birdwatching, where you might just spot a hawk or bald eagle in flight. Clear Creek Campground is seven miles southeast of the small ranching town of Camp Verde. It's part of the Coconino National Forest, one of the most diverse forests in...
Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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