Broadwater (Helena) Hot Springs
Broadwater, also called Helena Hot Springs, is a scalding source on the west side of Helena in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, a third of a mile from Helena West Side. The water comes out hot enough to cause burns on contact. It is alkaline, with iron in the water. A 1976 USGS sample is the chemistry on file. Nobody is listed as owner, and access status is blank. A photo exists.
Twenty-one feet from the nearest road, a roadside point at the edge of town, in the valley at Helena's elevation. Snow comes in at under four feet most years and the area is on the dry side. Moose Creek Cabin is the camping we list, eight and a half miles off. The land unit is blank.
Do not touch the source water; it will burn in seconds. Whether any of it is cooled for use is not in the record, and neither is who owns the site. Winter months are listed. Half a century has passed since the chemistry was taken.
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 Broadwater (Helena) 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.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the south.
- Highest ground nearby
- 340 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
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 76% 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 Broadwater (Helena) Hot Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 8.3).
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Overview Moose Creek Cabin is situated in an grassy clearing surrounded by conifer forest in the Tenmile Creek drainage west of Helena, Montana. The cabin was constructed in 1907 and used by the Forest Service during the early history of the agency. It has served as a Forest Service Ranger Station, guard station, and work center for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, the cabin is a rustic retreat for guests seeking relaxation and recreation. The cabin is accessible by car, but guests...
Broadwater (Helena) Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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