Spring
An unnamed thermal point inside the Heart Bar Wildlife Management Area, state fish and wildlife ground in Grant County, about thirty-two miles from Arenas Valley. The water comes out scalding, hot enough to injure on contact. The access status is restricted. Someone has photographed it. Between the temperature and the land status, this entry reads as a place to know about and stay out of.
The approach is a walk of a bit over half a mile from an unnamed road. The land designation is State Conservation Area. Elevation is moderate foothill country. Snow comes in moderate quantity most winters. Rainfall is modest, and the average temperature is mild. Forks Campground is about four miles off, the nearest on file.
Scalding water and restricted access. Contact the state wildlife agency that runs Heart Bar before going anywhere near it. December to February is the window on file. The chemistry and temperature come from a 1962 sample and show moderately mineralized water with iron. Forks Campground is the nearest place to camp on record.
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.
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
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 357 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, 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 59% 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 is slightly alkaline (pH 7.8) with 505 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.
Spring sits at 5,743 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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Spring 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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