Unnamed Thermal 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.
Far out from Alturas, about thirty-two miles, an unnamed spring beside Surprise Valley Road in Modoc County. The reading on file is 109 degrees, the upper edge of soaking warm, hot-tub territory. Whose land it is, and if visitors are permitted, is not on file. No photograph exists either. The record has a campground nearby but no second name for the spring.
Surprise Valley Road runs within about three hundred feet; the record classes the spring as roadside. It stands a little above forty-five hundred feet. Winters are heavy going by the climate record, five feet of snow in a typical year on about sixteen inches of total precipitation, and the annual mean is near fifty.
Midwinter, by the record. Patterson Guard Station is the campground listed, about seven miles away. At 109 degrees the water is hot enough that you will want to ease in; give it a minute before committing. Access is unrecorded, so confirm the land status first. The record is silent on any fee.
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.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the west.
- Highest ground nearby
- 531 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 twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 80% 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.
Overview *Altitude is 7,080 feet above sea level* Set on the edge of a meadow surrounded by Aspen, Fir and Pine trees, Patterson Guard Station has stood since 1921. It served the Modoc National Forest as a fully staffed fire office and guard station until 1981. Just a few footsteps from the Summit Trail and one-quarter mile from the wilderness boundary, Patterson Guard Station can be your basecamp for trips into the South Warner Wilderness or the perfect place to disconnect and relax. The...
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