Soda Station Springs
Mojave National Preserve holds Soda Station Springs, a cluster of warm springs on National Park Service land in San Bernardino County, open to visitors. Fort Irwin, well over thirty miles away, is the closest town listed. The water is warm, short of hot. The road the listing leaves unnamed is a third of a mile back, all of it on foot.
Low Mojave desert below a thousand feet, scarcely any rain and no snow. The preserve is National Park Service ground, recorded here under a National Conservation Area designation. The USGS sampled the water in late 2018 and found it alkaline and fairly mineral-heavy, with sodium, chloride, sulfate and calcium among the constituents measured, along with magnesium.
Winter, per the record. The record lists no campground near the springs. No fee on record, access open. Mild water, nothing to worry about on contact. Fort Irwin is a long way off, so fuel up and bring water before heading in.
The USGS keeps a site record for Soda Station Springs, with a water sample on file from November 2018.
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 Soda Station 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
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 43 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the west
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 60% 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 Soda Station Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 8.1) with 1840 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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Soda Station Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Bring sun protection for exposed soaking.
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