Unnamed Thermal Spring
The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Laguna Pueblo land, Cibola County: a thermal point with no name about 21 miles from the village of Laguna. The water is tepid, low seventies. Tribal ownership is the headline here. The access status on record is unknown, and the spring is a little over a hundred yards from the nearest road, so the only real question is permission.
High desert, dry, a little above 5,300 feet. Snow barely shows and the year brings under ten inches of moisture. A short walk in, off a road nobody named. Laguna Pueblo is the land unit listed. Past a point on the map and a temperature, nothing describes the place, and no campground falls within range.
Ask the Pueblo of Laguna first. The record gives no permission and no fee, and tribal land is the tribe's to grant. A sample from April 1975 came back neutral, iron present. Cold season, per the record. A USGS number is its only other identity.
USGS hasn't flown a detailed laser scan here yet, so this view comes from aerial photos and older elevation data.
- Setting
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 76 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 31% 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 This spring is slightly alkaline (pH 7.3). 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).
this spring sits at 5,318 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 21% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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