White Licks Hot 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.
White Licks Hot Spring sits beside National Forest Development Road 186 in Adams County, eleven miles from Council. The source temperature on file, from June 1972, is at the top of the hot range, right where water starts to scald. The road name implies national forest, though the record is blank on ownership and on public access. Water tests near neutral and carries magnesium, calcium, chloride, sulfate and sodium.
Roadside, a dozen yards from the forest road. The spring sits a touch below five thousand feet. Winters here are snowy, close to twelve feet on average, and the year overall is on the wet side. Which national forest, if any, is not stated.
Best season per the record: December to February, and the record is silent on whether the forest road is plowed. Amanita campground is about five miles off. The water will burn; test before entering. Confirm ownership and permission, neither of which is on record. The reading is over fifty years old.
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 White Licks Hot Spring.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 513 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northwest
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 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 31% 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 White Licks Hot Spring is slightly alkaline (pH 7.6). It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
Overview Amanita Campground is located next to scenic Lake Cascade in west-central Idaho. It is near the town of Donnelly, at an elevation of 4,850 feet. Boating, fishing, swimming and hiking are popular activities in this scenic region. Recreation Lake Cascade offers excellent opportunities for boating, water skiing, canoeing, windsurfing and sailing. Anglers enjoy casting for rainbow trout, coho salmon, smallmouth bass and perch. A boat ramp is located at the neighboring Rainbow Point Campg...
Springs Near White Licks Hot Spring
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