Hotz 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.
Hotz Spring sits on Forest Service land in Archuleta County, part of San Juan National Forest, roughly ten miles from Pagosa Springs. There is no temperature on file, so nothing on this page should be read as a soak. What the record does say is that access is open. A Wikipedia page exists for it, but the extract is empty.
Monument Park-East Road is the closest road, about half a mile away, and the record calls the approach a short walk. The country sits near eight thousand feet, with heavy snow in winter, a little over six feet on average. Precipitation is moderate. Ute Campground is the nearest camp listed, about eight miles away.
No best months are recorded. The snowfall figure is heavy, so expect a snowbound approach in winter. Access is open on Forest Service ground, with no fee in the record. Nobody has logged a temperature or water chemistry, so do not plan around a soak. Ute Campground, eight miles.
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 Hotz Spring.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 311 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, 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 38% 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 Ute Campground is located on US Hwy 160 across from Chimney Rock National Monument, 15 miles west of Pagosa Springs, 25 miles east of Bayfield, and 18 miles north of Arbolles, just west of the intersection with Colorado 151. Visitors enjoy quick access to Chimney Rock National Monument entrance and a centralized location to USFS trail systems, lake, and stream fishing. Recreation Ute Campground is the only access to Forest Service land on Haystack Mountain. Hiking views of Chimney R...
Hotz Spring sits at 7,884 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 32% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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