The Meadows Warm Spring
The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
The Meadows Warm Spring is a backcountry spring inside Gila National Forest boundaries in Grant County, 37 miles from Arenas Valley, which is the closest town on file. Its water comes out right around soaking temperature, the low nineties, warm enough to sit in without a chill. Forest Service land, open to the public. Getting there is a hike of nearly five miles from the last road.
This is mid-mountain Gila country at a little over 6,200 feet. The record gives a distance to the road and no name for it. Snow comes most winters in modest amounts, and the yearly moisture total is on the damp side for New Mexico. Forks Campground, about eleven miles away, is the closest listed camp.
The record favors winter for a visit, which tracks with warm summers in this part of the state. Five miles each way on foot is the commitment. Camp at Forks Campground if you want a base. No fee, no water chemistry, and no description of a pool are on file, so you are going on the temperature alone.
USGS hasn't flown a detailed laser scan here yet, so this view comes from aerial photos and older elevation data.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 729 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
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 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.
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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.
The Meadows Warm Spring sits at 6,267 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 25% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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The Meadows Warm Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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