Slates Hot Springs
Slates Hot Springs sits on the Big Sur coast of Monterey County, at sea level, with Carmel Valley Village the nearest town on record at about 25 miles. The water is hot, past the point where you could sit in it as it comes out. The road is a couple hundred yards back. Who owns it, and if you may enter, are unrecorded.
The coast, right at the water. Wet winters with a good deal of rain and no snow. No name is given for the nearest road, and nothing is recorded about who owns the land or what unit it falls under. Wikipedia places the site eight miles north-northwest of Lopez Point. Escondido Campground lies eight miles or so away.
February tops the list of good months, with December and January behind it. Escondido Campground is about eight miles off. The source can scald on contact, so test before you touch. Access and ownership are unrecorded here, and given that the land was patented to a private owner in the 1880s you should confirm you are welcome before you walk in.
Thomas B. Slate filed a land patent for the site and the ground around it on September 9, 1882. The springs have gone by several names since, Big Sur Hot Springs among them, plus Slate's Springs and Slate's Hot Sulphur Springs.
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 Slates 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.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the east.
- Highest ground nearby
- 307 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 63% 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 Escondido Campground is one of the best kept secrets in the Santa Lucia Mountains. This family-friendly campground boasts scenic vistas that will take your breath away. Surrounded by spectacular rock formations and sprawling oaks this campground rests in a beautiful grassy meadow. The outdoor activities are endless. Hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, picnicking, and bird watching are just a few of the activities you can do while visiting this Los Padres National Forest gem. Recrea...
Slates Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key.
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