Gila Hot Springs
Scalding is the word for Gila Hot Springs, well past what a hand can take and nowhere near something you would sit in. Grant County, New Mexico. Arenas Valley is the nearest town listed, roughly thirty miles. Nobody has recorded who owns the ground or whether the public may use it, so do not assume the name means a soak. A photo exists. USGS has tracked the site since at least the mid seventies.
The road runs within a stone's throw, call it fifty paces, and that is the whole of the walk. Elevation is middling for this part of New Mexico, foothill country well short of the high peaks. Winters drop enough snow to matter some years, and the rainfall tally is lean. Average temperatures run mild across the year. Land unit and designation go unfilled, and the road carries no name here.
The water is hot enough to scald, so keep skin away from the source and test any outflow before trusting it. Forks Campground is about a mile away and is the camp on file. December and the two months after it carry the better-window flag. Chemistry and temperature alike come from a survey taken in 1974, and nobody has updated the access status since, so confirm ownership before you go.
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 Gila 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 west.
- Highest ground nearby
- 304 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the west
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 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 52% 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 Gila Hot Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 7.5) with 421 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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This campground features beautiful cliffs along the West Fork of the Gila River.This campground is a great place to stop on the way to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (15 miles north). Overnight camping is allowed in the upper portion of Forks; however, the lower portion of the Forks Recreation Site along the West Fork of the Gila River is day use only.
Gila Hot Springs sits at 5,800 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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Gila Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
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