Seyferth Hot Springs
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Scalding water at the roadside on BLM land in Modoc County. Seyferth Hot Springs sits about 25 miles from Alturas, under two hundred feet from a road nobody has named on file, managed by the Applegate Field Office, and anyone may visit. The temperature on file is high enough to cause serious burns. Nobody should plan to soak in the source.
High desert plateau, well over four thousand feet up, cold most of the year and buried under something like four and a half feet of snow each winter. Roadside, public ground, no fee on record. Pepperdine Equestrian Campground, thirteen or fourteen miles off, is the camping on record. The annual average temperature sits below fifty.
The listed best months fall in deep winter, which in Modoc County means snow on the ground and a real question of road access; check before you drive out from Alturas. The water is scalding. Kids and dogs should stay well away from where it comes up. Access is open on BLM land. Camping is at Pepperdine, a dozen miles off or a bit more.
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 Seyferth Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the northeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 140 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, 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 33% 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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The campsites are mostly shaded and enjoy serene surroundings and are equiped with 12' X 12' metal corrals. A short trail runs over to the start of the Summit Trail where it heads south into the South Warner Wilderness. No wilderness permits are required however, if you plan to use a camp or backpack stove or charcoal barbeque or have a campfire outside the developed campground, you will need a current California Campfire Permit.
Seyferth Hot Springs 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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