Carneros 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.
Out in the dry hills near Lost Hills, Carneros Spring is a warm seep in Kern County that the records put at about body temperature, the bottom edge of soaking warm. Lost Hills is the nearest town, roughly sixteen miles away. Nothing in our record says who owns the ground or whether visitors are allowed.
Some of the driest country in California, seven inches of rain in a normal year and no snow. The spring lies a bit under half a mile from the closest road, which our data leaves nameless, so expect a walk over open ground. Elevation is modest, low hills rising off the valley. Selby Campground is the only camping we know of, and it is a long way off.
Go in winter. A warm spring in the summer heat of the western Kern County hills has little appeal, and our data favors December to February anyway. The walk in is short. Camping is far away, so plan a day trip. Access and ownership are unknown. Check both before you drive out.
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 Carneros Spring.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 296 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
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 close to the US average of 65. It's higher than at 11% 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.
Camping is available on a first come-first serve basis. Thirteen campsites with picnic tables, fire pits, horse corrals and a wheelchair accessible vault toilet. Electricity and drinking water is not available. There is no garbage service, please act responsibly and pack out any refuse you have. This campground is more secluded and the camper is only steps away from unlimited hiking in the Wilderness Study Area that lies outside the campground.
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