Idaho Springs
This USGS thermal point sits under a mile from the center of Idaho Springs, Clear Creek County. The water reads hot, above the comfortable soaking range, and a 1976 sample shows near-neutral pH. Access and ownership are unrecorded. The Wikipedia page attached to the record is about the town itself.
Soda Creek Road passes within a few hundred feet, which makes this roadside. Elevation is mountain-town height. Snow is heavy, about seven and a half feet in a normal year, and there is a fair amount of rain. The nearest camp on file is Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout, roughly four miles away. No land unit is attached.
Winter is the ranked season. It runs hot, so ease in slowly and never assume the source itself is safe to sit in. Access is not on record despite how close the town is. Camping at Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout, four miles out. The chemistry reading is half a century old.
The town the record points to, Idaho Springs, is the most populous municipality in Clear Creek County and part of the Denver metropolitan statistical area, with 1,782 residents at the 2020 census.
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 Idaho 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 southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 334 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from north to south, 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 57% 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 Idaho Springs is neutral (pH 6.9). It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), and sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration).
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Overview The Mestaa’ėhehe (pronounced mess-taw-HAY) Mountain Fire Lookout is located directly off of Colorado Highway 103 west of Bergen Park and sits at the summit of Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which is an active communication tower site in Clear Creek County. In addition to being an active communication site, the area is a popular dispersed recreation use area with hiking, recreational shooting, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and camping. The lookout is a unique structure constructed of n...
Idaho Springs sits at 7,682 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 31% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Idaho Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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