Bare Ranch 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.
Modoc County, thirty-five miles from Alturas: that is where Bare Ranch Spring sits, and the distance is the first thing to know. The reading on file lands right at the line between tepid and soaking warm. Nobody has put an owner or an access status on record, and with a ranch in the name it is worth treating as possibly private until you learn otherwise.
Bare Ranch Road passes about three hundred feet from the spring, so it counts as roadside. Elevation is around forty-five hundred feet, high enough that winters bring real snow, close to five feet most years. Rain is modest, around fifteen inches. No land unit or agency is attached, and nothing on file says what the surrounding ground is used for.
Winter comes up as the best season on record, which sits awkwardly against nearly five feet of snow; expect the road to be a question then. Patterson Guard Station, eight and a half miles off, is where the record points for camping. Access and ownership are unknown. Fee, none noted.
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 Bare Ranch Spring.
- Setting
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 36 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 72% 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.
Overview *Altitude is 7,080 feet above sea level* Set on the edge of a meadow surrounded by Aspen, Fir and Pine trees, Patterson Guard Station has stood since 1921. It served the Modoc National Forest as a fully staffed fire office and guard station until 1981. Just a few footsteps from the Summit Trail and one-quarter mile from the wilderness boundary, Patterson Guard Station can be your basecamp for trips into the South Warner Wilderness or the perfect place to disconnect and relax. The...
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