East Lake Hot Springs
East Lake Hot Springs are hot springs on the Deschutes National Forest in Deschutes County, Oregon, about fifteen miles from Three Rivers. The source water is scalding, hot enough to burn, and the springs sit right beside East Lake Campground. Open to the public on Forest Service land, and among the more visited pages on this site.
National Forest Development Road 21 comes to within four hundred feet or so. East Lake Campground is practically on top of the springs, the record measuring it at a tenth of a mile. There is no elevation in the record. Cold year round, with heavy snow and relatively little rain.
Winter is the recommended season on file, but a hundred inches of snow and a forest development road mean you should plan around when the road opens. The water at source will scald; do not get in without checking how hot it is where you plan to sit. Camp at East Lake Campground, steps away. No fee recorded, and no chemistry on file.
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 East Lake Hot 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
- Valley floor
- Gentle slopes rise on both sides.
- Highest ground nearby
- 112 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
A slice through the ground from west to east, 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 49% 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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Overview East Lake Campground sits at the edge of beautiful East Lake in the caldera of Newberry Volcano. Most sites in this campground are on the lake or no more than a few minutes walk away. There are opportunities for bird watching, bicycling, sightseeing, and canoeing. East Lake is a little shadier than the other lakes and is a perfect way to beat the heat of the summer. There are nearby hikes into the lava rock and close by waterfalls. The area is part of the Newberry National Monument...
East Lake Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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