Belknap Springs
Belknap Springs is a private hot springs resort, and also the name of the small unincorporated community around it, near the McKenzie River. The record files it under Deschutes County with Sisters as the nearest town, twenty-five miles or thereabouts. Wikipedia puts it in Lane County. The source water is scalding, far too hot to touch, and whatever soaking happens here is under the resort's control. Public access: nothing recorded.
Five hundred feet or so from North Belknap Springs Road, low in the river valley. The climate is wet, well over sixty inches a year, with heavy winter snow for such a low elevation. Limberlost Campground is listed a little over a mile away.
Since this is a private resort, expect to pay and to use their pools on their terms, though no fee amount is recorded. Do not approach the source. The winter months show as best on file. Water chemistry, including iron alongside calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfate and chloride, was last sampled in 1981, so the mineral figures are old.
Wikipedia describes Belknap Springs as an unincorporated community and private hot springs resort in Lane County, Oregon, close to the McKenzie River. The USGS has the spring in its thermal records under a site number.
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 Belknap 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 north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 931 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from south to north, 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 33% 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 Belknap Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 7.9). It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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Overview After a fun filled day exploring the area, relax and fall asleep to the sound of the babbling Lost Creek at this secluded and quiet Group site that's made up of 12 sites. Towering Douglas fir and cedar trees surround this small, rustic and compact campground. The campground’s name was derived from "Girl of the Limberlost," a classic novel by American writer and naturalist, Gene Stratton-Porter. The campground offers vault toilets and garbage service. Each campsite includes a fire rin...
Belknap 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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