Unnamed Thermal Spring
A couple of miles from Soda Bay, Lake County, an unnamed spring with a reading of 95 degrees on record. That is comfortable soaking warmth, a little under hot-tub heat. Someone has photographed it; the picture is on file. What is missing is any word on ownership, and on whether the public can go in.
The nearest road is under five hundred feet of walking away, and it goes unnamed on the record. This is low ground, around thirteen hundred feet. Rain and snow together come to roughly twenty-seven inches in a year, almost all of it rain. Snow barely registers in the average.
The record's preferred months are the winter ones. Letts Lake Campground is the closest one on file, and it is a long way off, around twenty-two miles. Ownership and access are both blank on file, so do the homework first. No fee is recorded. Ninety-five degree water is best appreciated on a cool evening.
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 this 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
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the southwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 169 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
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 2½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 98% 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.
Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Overview This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site.Once on-site, you are able to pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app, and the Scan and Pay feature.In order to utilize Scan & Pay on site, you will need to first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app https://www.recreation.gov/mobile-app prior to your arrival as some remote area...
this spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Springs Near This Spring
More Springs Around 95°F
Hike 1 waterfall near this spring
Looking for more outdoor adventures? Explore waterfall hikes near this spring, California.