Warm 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.
Warm Springs, the Harney County one on the Malheur refuge, is a warm spring a long way from anywhere: Hines, the nearest town on record, is over fifty miles off. The water is in the high eighties, warm and no more. Access is restricted. What sets this spot apart is a campground under two miles away.
The nearest route on record is the Barnes Springs Footpath, and the spring is under half a mile from it. Fish and Wildlife Service ground, managed as national wildlife refuge. It is high desert around 4,200 feet with close to four feet of snow in a winter and a moderate amount of rain.
Winter months rate best on the record. Restricted access means checking with the refuge first. Page Springs Campground is the camping on file and it is close, under two miles. A July 2017 sample put the water at a high pH with chloride noted, so it is alkaline. The temperature is warm and will not feel hot at any season.
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 Warm Springs.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southwest.
- Highest ground nearby
- 408 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 close to the US average of 65. It's higher than at 10% 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 Warm Springs is alkaline (pH 9.5).
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Overview Page Springs Campground is located at the base of Steens Mountain, just three miles from the town of Frenchglen, Oregon. Thrity-six roomy campsites situated under cottonwood and juniper trees and near the Donner and Blitzen River welcome visitors year-round. The campground serves as the trailhead for two short hikes: the Blitzen River Trail meanders four miles up the river, while the Wilderness Nature Trail climbs gradually to the top of the bluff overlooking the valley floor and l...
Warm Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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