Ritter 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.
Ritter Hot Springs, in Grant County, comes out at a temperature a body can sit in. Soaking warm, a shade above a hot bath. It is thirty-four miles from John Day by the record, reached by a short walk off Ritter Hot Spur Road. The record has no landowner and no access status, so treat it as unconfirmed.
Ritter Hot Spur Road gets you within about a hundred and twenty yards of the spring; the last bit is on foot. The spring sits at a moderate elevation for eastern Oregon. Winters drop over four feet of snow, and precipitation across the year runs near two feet, so the road may be a question in the cold months. Ditch Creek Guard Station cabin is the nearest listed overnight spot, around nineteen miles off.
December through February score as the best months in the record. Access is a short walk from the spur road. The temperature is comfortable for soaking without mixing. Who owns the land, and if visitors are allowed, is not recorded; ask in the area before going. No fee is listed.
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 Ritter Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the northeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 306 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
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 36% 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 Ditch Creek Guard Station, located about 27 miles southeast of Heppner, Oregon, is a comfortable little cabin that accommodates six overnight guests, with additional space for tent camping outside. Equestrian campers are welcome and a corral with trough is provided. The guard station was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930s. It is a classic example of forest structures of that era and is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Plac...
Ritter Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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