Deep Creek Hot Springs

USA / California / Lake Arrowhead / PCT (Pacific Crest Trail)
 river, desert, hot spring
Pacific Crest Trail
Apple Valley, CA 92308
(909) 382-2600
www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sbnf/recarea/?recid=34152

Where the water comes gushing out of the rock it is so hot (117°f) that locals call the smallest pool "the crab cooker." “Anniversary” is typically 107°f, “The Womb” 103°f, and “Serenity” 101°f to 112°f, and the newest, "Arizona" 105°f There are a series of cooling pools, the coolest being in the creek itself. Even in winter, when Deep Creek is icy cold, you can find a pool where the temperature will be to your liking.

There is a hot spring weeping up from under the shallow sand in the upper lagoon making the sand HOT - 115°f 4-5 inches deep, fun to dig your hands and feet in keeping you warm while sitting in cool water.

Another spring, weeping up under the South bank slowly eroding the bank away, exposing mineral rich mud, silt and sand - ideal for indulging in decadent mudbath.


It is a steep, dusty, sandy, and treacherous, in a few spots, 1.75 mile trail down from where you park on Bowen Ranch property, and hot as hell in the summer time.
Bring plenty of drinking water with you.
No joke!
Do not drink from the hot spring or from the creek. This area is home to a virulent parasite which thrives in the 103 degree water and at least one or two people have died from liver failure a few days after drinking from this spring, however, by far, most injuries and deaths have occurred from falling from granite cliffs on account of alcoholism.

HOWEVER, if you fill water bottles from the copper pipe jammed in the granite from the source of "The Crab Cooker", this water has been superheated underground by the magma, and, subsequently, needs no more treatment than cooling in the rapids, upstream, for quality drinking water. Low levels of safe mineral content. This water is tested twice a year by US EPA.

Photo of the upper and lower pools by Richard Ellis.

www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/deep-creek-hot-sp...
www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=34.33914&lon=-117.17435&d...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Creek_Hot_Springs
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°20'21"N   117°10'37"W

Comments

  • The above mention of people dying from a parasite is erroneous. The deaths from this parasite is at Deep Springs, just north of Death Valley NP. There has been confusion for many years.
This article was last modified 5 years ago