Secret Valley 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.
Secret Valley Hot Springs is a soaking warm thermal spring in Yellowstone National Park, a bit over a mile's walk from the nearest road and close to West Yellowstone as the crow flies. Body temperature water, roughly. It is a National Park Service feature, which means it is there to be seen, and park rules on thermal areas apply. Public access is listed as open.
Yellowstone backcountry of the gentle sort: a hike of about 1.2 miles from the road, at plateau elevation. Heavy snow country, well over a hundred inches most winters, and damp for the interior West. The road that serves it is not named on file. The Park Service owns and manages everything around it.
Winter months are listed as best. Snowpack decides what you travel on, skis some years, boots others. Indian Creek Campground is the closest on record, fifteen miles away. Chemistry is from a 2007 sample. No fee is recorded for the spring itself; park entry is another matter.
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 Secret Valley Hot Springs.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 620 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from north to south, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 85% 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 Secret Valley Hot Springs is slightly acidic (pH 6.7). It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration) and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
Overview Located about eight miles (13 km) south of Mammoth Hot Springs on the road to Norris, Indian Creek Campground—elevation 7,300 feet (2225 m)—sits near the base of the Gallatin Mountains and offers breathtaking views of Electric Peak. The area offers easy access to fishing and hiking. The campground is away from the main road and provides a quieter, more primitive, experience than many other locations. For reservations at the campgrounds managed by Yellowstone National Park Lodges (Fi...
Secret Valley Hot Springs sits at 7,320 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 29% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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