Camas Hot Springs
Camas Hot Springs sits on Flathead Reservation land in Sanders County, Montana, about fifteen miles from Plains, and the water is hot, above the comfortable soaking range. A 1975 sample came back strongly alkaline. This is tribal ground. Public use is listed as unknown, which in practice means you need to ask the tribe.
Jaques Road passes within a hundred feet, so this is a roadside spring in a low valley, one of the lower elevations for a Montana hot spring. Snow is moderate and the year is fairly wet. The land is held by the Flathead Reservation, and no fee or bathhouse type is recorded.
Hot enough to need care; test the water before you get in and do not assume the 1975 reading still holds. Access status is unknown and the land is tribal, so ask first. For camping the record gives Big Hole Lookout, nineteen miles off. The record favors the winter months here, with moderate snow.
The spring lies within the Flathead Reservation, and the USGS keeps a site record for it.
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 Camas 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
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 50 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
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 75% 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 Camas Hot Springs is alkaline (pH 9.1).
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Overview The Big Hole Lookout offers guests an opportunity to experience an old-time Forest Service lookout. The tower commands an impressive 360 degree view of valleys and mountain ranges for miles and miles. The structure is small and is not elevated like many other lookouts, and is available for rent from June to early October each year. 2021 is the first year the lookout will be available to the public to rent. We are excited to offer this new, unique opportunity on the Plains/Thompson...
Camas Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key.
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