Clear Water 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.
On Kirtland Air Force Base in Bernalillo County, a few miles from Carnuel on the east side of Albuquerque, Clear Water Spring is a USGS thermal record and little else. The water is barely warm, well short of anything you could soak in. The base is military land and access is listed as closed. A 1945 sample found salty, mineral-heavy water carrying iron, sulfate, calcium, magnesium and chloride.
Foothill ground at the edge of the base, roughly a fifth of a mile off the nearest road, at close to 6,000 feet. The climate is dry, with a light dusting of snow most winters and hot summers. Military designation, no public route in. Nobody has described the spring itself, and with the base closed to the public nobody is likely to.
Skip this one. Access is closed, and the temperature would disappoint anyway. The record is useful mainly to people studying thermal water around Albuquerque, and even then the chemistry is eighty years old. Cedro Peak's Robin and Jay camping sites are about six and a half miles away for anyone already camping nearby. The climate figures favor winter.
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 Clear Water Spring.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 424 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
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 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 20% 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 Clear Water Spring contains 1990 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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Overview Cedro Peak Camping Sites is a favorite area in the southern portion of the Sandia Ranger District. It is encompassed by ponderosa pine, pinon and juniper trees. Both Cedro Peak camping sites are fully accessible and have plenty of parking. Jay site has a circular turn around drive for those who might bring a small travel trailer.Recreation Cedro Peak Camping Sites has room for outdoor games as well as access to the best trail system for mountain biking in the Cibola National Forest....
Clear Water Spring sits at 5,860 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 23% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Clear Water Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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