Spring (Hot)
The record files this as an unnamed hot spring in Modoc County a few miles from Alturas, while OpenStreetMap gives it a name, Soldier Meadows Hot Spring. The land is open BLM, managed out of the Black Rock Field Office. Water is hot, too hot for most people to sit in straight from the source.
A short walk, a few hundred yards, from an unnamed road. Around forty-five hundred feet. Winters bring a bit over two feet of snow; the year totals about ten inches of moisture. A photo is on file.
Winter months listed as best. Hot water: test before entering and do not assume a cooler pool exists. Dissolved solids were low in a 1980 sample, but nothing newer is on record. Open access. Fee and campground unlisted.
OpenStreetMap records this spring as Soldier Meadows Hot Spring, a name the USGS listing does not carry.
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 Spring (Hot).
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
- 52 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northwest
A slice through the ground from north to south, 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 64% 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 Spring (Hot) contains 224 mg/L total dissolved solids.
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Spring (Hot) is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key.
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