South Canyon 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.
South Canyon Hot Springs surfaces about four miles from Glenwood Springs, in Garfield County, right alongside Canyon Creek Road. It runs hotter than most bodies will take without some cooling first. No landowner is named and access is unrecorded. Someone sampled the chemistry in August 2021, so the mineral picture holds up.
You can nearly touch it from the road. Canyon Creek Road passes within about twenty-five feet. Elevation is under six thousand feet. A snowy winter, around eighty inches, and a moderately dry year. Thompson Creek Campground, about seventeen miles away, is what the record gives for camping.
Winter, December through February, is the listed season. Roadside, so no walk. Hot enough that you test before you sit. Dissolved solids run high. Check who owns the land and what the access rules are before you go,, since the record says nothing.
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 South Canyon Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 626 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, 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 92% 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 South Canyon Hot Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 7.3) with 778 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
The Thompson Creek Recreation Management Area is located just a few miles southwest of Carbondale and provides beautiful, remote recreational opportunities. On the North end of the RMA is the Lorax trail, which is a popular non motorized route. In the southwest corner of the area is the Thompson Creek campground and trail, which winds along Thompson Creek to views of the rare geologic “fin” formations. There are 4 shaded campsites along the creek with metal fire rings. There are not picnic...
South Canyon Hot Springs sits at 5,850 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 23% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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