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.
Out in Valencia County, this is a USGS thermal point that the record lists as Spring and nothing more. Belen is the nearest town, close to 19 miles distant. The water is barely above lukewarm, the kind you would notice as mild on a cold morning. Nobody has recorded the landowner, and public access is unknown as well, which is the main thing to know here.
High desert ground at about 5,800 feet, in dry country that sees perhaps ten inches of rain in a year and a little snow. The nearest road is under two hundred yards away, though the road itself has no name on file. With no land owner recorded, you cannot tell from here if you would be crossing private ground to reach it.
Cool-season visits rank best, December into February. The only chemistry on record is a single sample from April 1962, slightly acidic, with sodium and sulfate among the things it picked up. That is old enough that the temperature may have drifted. Check access before you go. No campground is on file nearby, and nothing about a fee.
The USGS logs this as a numbered thermal site. Its one water sample, taken in the spring of 1962, is the whole written record of the place.
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.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the northwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 46 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northwest
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 43% 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 neutral (pH 6.8). It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), and sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration).
Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Spring sits at 5,801 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.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.