Vigilante 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.
Vigilante Spring is a tepid spring in the Beaverhead National Forest, Madison County, Montana, eighteen miles from Virginia City. Wading is about the most the water allows. Access is open, it is Forest Service land, and it sits almost on the road. Vigilante Cabin is close by, which makes it an easy stop from there.
Forest Development Road 163 runs within fourteen feet of the spring, which makes it about as roadside as a spring gets. Elevation is high, snow is heavy at nearly ninety inches, and the climate is wet. Beaverhead National Forest land, no fee on file.
Vigilante Cabin is a mile and a half away. Winter holds the best-months slot on the record, but the snowfall here argues for summer, when a forest road is more likely open and the cabin easier to reach. Access is open. Neither chemistry nor a survey date is on file, and no photo exists.
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 Vigilante Spring.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 549 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, 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.
Overview The Vigilante Cabin, also known as the Vigilante Middle House, offers a comfortable place to stay deep in the mountains of southwestern Montana along the Ruby River between the Snowcrest and Gravelly Ranges. The house boasts two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and has electricity and seasonal water. A bathroom, with a toilet and shower,is usually available from May - September. It is close to many outdoor recreation opportunities, including fishing, hiking and hunting, as well as...
Vigilante Spring sits at 6,145 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 25% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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