Ruidosa Hot Springs
Ruidosa Hot Springs goes by more than one name. Wikipedia files it as Chinati Hot Springs, and Kingston Hot Springs turns up as well. The water is hot, comfortably above bath temperature, and the site sits in the Big Bend country of far West Texas, with Ojinaga, six and a half miles distant, as the closest town the record names. Ownership and public access are blank on file, which matters for a place with this many names.
Two hundred and some feet separate the spring from a road, no hiking required. This is Chihuahuan Desert at middling elevation, nine inches of rain in a normal year and snow that melts the day it lands if it lands at all. Who holds the land is not recorded, and that alone is reason to be careful about wandering in.
Cold season, December into February, is the time the record points to. At this temperature you ease in slowly. Confirm if the springs are run as a private operation before driving out; the record gives no access status. Roadside parking makes arrival easy once you know you are allowed in.
Wikipedia describes the site as Chinati Hot Springs, with Ruidosa Hot Springs and Kingston Hot Springs as other names for it, a set of volcanic thermal springs north of Ruidosa in the Big Bend region of the Chihuahuan Desert, near Presidio. The same article calls it a historic watering place in the desert.
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 Ruidosa 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
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 103 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, 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 42% 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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Ruidosa Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key. Bring sun protection for exposed soaking.
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