Rainbow Hot 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.
A hike-in soak in San Juan National Forest: that is Rainbow Hot Springs, Archuleta County, roughly seventeen miles from Pagosa Springs. The temperature reading is in the soaking range, a few degrees above body heat. The Forest Service owns the ground and access is open. The Wikipedia page attached is filed under Hot Springs in Mineral County.
The nearest road lies three and a half miles away, and the record classes the approach as a hike. This is high country and the snowfall is huge, twelve feet in an average year, with a wet climate. West Fork Campground, give or take five miles, is the listed camp. Designation: national forest.
The season data ranks winter highest, which at this elevation and snowfall means a serious snow approach. Open access, no fee recorded. Camping at West Fork Campground, five miles off. No chemistry has been logged. The temperature makes it comfortable to sit in once you reach it.
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 Rainbow Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 550 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from south to north, 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 78% 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 West Fork Campground sits near the West Fork San Juan River in a secluded 10-acre area, just over a mile from Highway 160. Visitors enjoy the area for its hiking opportunities and plentiful solitude.Recreation The West Fork and nearby Wolf Creek offer fishing opportunities, but are heavily fished streams. Only skilled and patient fishermen have much luck in these waters. The West Fork Trail, also known as the Rainbow Trail, leads into the Weminuche Wilderness from a trailhead a mile...
At 9,037 feet, Rainbow Hot Springs is in high-altitude territory where the air is noticeably thinner. Soaking in hot water accelerates dehydration and can amplify altitude effects like headache and fatigue. UV radiation is roughly 36% stronger here. Wear sunscreen even on overcast days and take breaks from the water to rehydrate.
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