Squaw 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.
Squaw Hot Springs is in Franklin County, three miles from Preston. The water is scalding, well above anything you could sit in, and very salty, with dissolved solids in the thousands on the 1972 sample. Flow was measured at three cubic feet per second, a good deal of water. Owner unknown; access unknown.
North 2200 West passes a hundred and fifty yards or so away, a short walk. Valley floor at middling elevation, with a cool average, snowfall near four feet and a dry year. Nothing in the record says who manages the ground between the road and the water.
Camping on file means Third Creek Group Site, eleven miles off. Best months are winter, January at the top. Do not touch the source water; it will burn. No owner is recorded, so confirm access before going. The chemistry is from 1972, and the salt load then was extreme. With the flow that high and the water that hot, keep well back from wherever it emerges.
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 Squaw Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the west.
- Highest ground nearby
- 136 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the west
A slice through the ground from west to east, 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 89% 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 Squaw Hot Springs is neutral (pH 7.0) with 9180 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
Overview Third Creek Group Campground is located just 12 miles northeast of Malad, Idaho, on the Weston Highway near Deep Creek Reservoir. Visitors enjoy exploring the local trail system and fishing at Deep Creek.Recreation Third Creek Trailhead is adjacent to the campground, complete with hitching racks for horses. It accesses the Oxford Peak Trail System and is open to hikers, bikers, motorcyclists and off-road vehicle users as well. Deep Creek Reservoir offers good trout, as well as boati...