Saratoga Spring
Out in the desert of Death Valley National Park, in San Bernardino County, Saratoga Spring runs warm and sits far from any town; Fort Irwin, the closest on file, is over thirty miles away. The water is warm, on the tepid side. The public may go, and Saratoga Spring Road comes within a few hundred feet. It sits very low, a couple hundred feet above sea level.
Near-sea-level desert within park boundaries, with scant rain, no snow worth mentioning and a warm average across the year. The road brings you close and the rest is on foot. It is Park Service land. Water chemistry on file shows a high dissolved solids reading, from a sample taken in 1967.
Winter, meaning December through February, is the time on record. No campground is listed for the area. The chemistry on file dates to 1967, so treat it as old information. No fee is listed. Entry is open, and the water is mild enough to be safe.
The USGS maintains a site record for Saratoga Spring, and the water sample on file was taken in April 1967.
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 Saratoga 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 east.
- Highest ground nearby
- 314 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 58% 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 Saratoga Spring contains 2925 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in total dissolved solids (higher mineral concentration for therapeutic soaking).
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Saratoga Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Bring sun protection for exposed soaking.
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