Rice Spring, Ward 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.
Rice Spring, also recorded as Ward Spring, is a warm spring on BLM land in Minidoka County, about 26 miles from Rupert. Barely warm is the honest description, low seventies when sampled in 1975. The Burley office manages the ground and access is open. Alkaline water, with the common calcium and sodium load.
Roadside. The nearest road, three hundred feet or so away, has no name on record. The land is public, BLM. Elevation is fairly high. Winters bring a bit over three feet of snow and the year is dry, around seventeen inches of precipitation.
McClendon Spring Campground is four miles away. The listed season is winter. At the measured temperature the water would feel cool in cold weather, so that recommendation is hard to square with a seventy-degree spring. The reading is from 1975. Access is open and the land is BLM, so there is no ownership question to settle. Rupert is the nearest town of size on file.
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 Rice Spring, Ward Spring.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 211 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
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 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.
The water at Rice Spring, Ward Spring is slightly alkaline (pH 8.2).
Explore the Cotterel Mountains or hunt for upland birds and deer near this semi-developed camping destination. McClendon Spring was a favorite resting place for emigrants along the California Trail.
Springs Near Rice Spring, Ward Spring
More Springs Around 72°F
Slightly Alkaline Springs (pH ~8.2)
Hike 2 waterfalls near Rice Spring, Ward Spring
Looking for more outdoor adventures? Explore waterfall hikes near Rice Spring, Ward Spring, Idaho.