Boiling Springs Lake
Boiling Springs Lake is a thermal lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park, Plumas County, about thirteen miles from Chester. Near boiling, scalding well beyond the point of harm. This is a place to look at, a national park feature, and no part of it is for getting in. Public access is open.
National Park Service land at six thousand feet. From the nearest road, unnamed in the record, it is a walk of a little over half a mile. Snow here runs to about seventeen feet a year, with nearly four feet of precipitation, so the approach is seasonal. Warner Valley Campground sits the same half mile or so away.
December through February are listed as best months, but at seventeen feet of snow the park road will decide the matter. Warner Valley Campground is right there, a little over half a mile. The lake will scald; stay on whatever route the park marks and keep out of the water entirely. The record lists no fee for the spring itself.
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 Boiling Springs Lake.
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 southwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 187 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.
Landsat's thermal camera passed over on a clear winter day, January 19, 2025. This spring's heat shows up from about 440 miles up. The brightest yellow marks the warmest ground, roughly 27°F warmer than the land around it.
Drag to compare. The view is about 2½ miles across, and each thermal pixel covers roughly 300 feet of ground, so individual pools blur into one warm patch.
Thermal: Landsat 8/9 surface temperature, USGS (public domain), via Microsoft Planetary Computer. Aerial: USGS The National Map. More springs seen from space.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 57% 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.
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Overview Warner Valley campground is a limited development facility in the south eastern area of the park. It has vault toilets and potable water spigots. Numerous trails can be accessed from the campground. Recreation Hiking trails accessible from the campground Facilities Vault toilets - seasonal Natural Features Lassen Volcanic national park is known for its volcanic history, as well as its diversity of plants and animals. It contains 300 active volcanic domes, as well as many hydrotherma...
Boiling Springs Lake sits at 6,005 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 24% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Boiling Springs Lake is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
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