Hutlinana Hot Springs

Hutlinana Hot Springs is an undeveloped hot spring on Hutlinana Creek in Interior Alaska, north of the Elliott Highway and, by the Bureau of Land Management's survey of the site, about 21 miles southeast of the village of Rampart. The spring sits on a 160-acre parcel, U.S. Survey 11811, administered by the BLM's Central Yukon Field Office in Fairbanks, and State of Alaska land surrounds it. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources manages that land for habitat and recreation, and its Yukon Tanana Area Plan calls the hot springs "a popular recreation area and an important habitat area." An earlier state plan said the spring should be protected as an undeveloped recreation site. NOAA's thermal springs survey records the vent at 109°F. The pool itself is what visitors have made of it. A Fairbanks Daily News-Miner writer who skied in during November 2015 described a hole the size of a hot tub, separated from the colder creek by rocks and a piece of 2-by-10 lumber, with hot water bubbling up near the shore beneath a rock outcrop. He gave the pool as 106°F, citing Kyle Joly's book Outside in the Interior, got in three soaks on an overnight trip, and noted that the pool has a reputation for flooding when beavers dam the creek. There is no road and no maintained trail. Alaska law lists the Hutlinana Hot Springs Trail (RS 2477 trail RST 1845) as a public right-of-way, and the state's area plan says public access on RS 2477 trails will be maintained. Treat it as a 6–8+ mile unmaintained route. The News-Miner party parked at a small pullout just west of the Hutlinana Creek Bridge at Mile 129.3 of the Elliott Highway and followed a narrow trail through spruce forest and muskeg; the ski and snowshoe in took about four hours. It is mainly a winter trip, made after freeze-up. On the same day, a university outdoor group turned back at the stream crossing. Moose rut and winter in the surrounding unit, and brown bears are present, according to the state plan. There are no facilities at the spring. Questions about the parcel go to the BLM Central Yukon Field Office in Fairbanks.

Sources: sdms.ak.blm.gov, blm.gov, dnr.alaska.gov (1), dnr.alaska.gov (2), akleg.gov, arcgis.dnr.alaska.gov, newsminer.com, dggs.alaska.gov, doi.pangaea.de

Cars stop short of Hutlinana Hot Springs (Hutlinana Creek, Alaska): 2.9 miles from Elliott Highway as the crow flies. Primitive backcountry soak, in visitor reviews. NOAA puts 109°F on this vent (very hot band). The sources found do not state a fee and no amenities are on file. Clothing policy: unverified in the sources we hold.

Source: NOAA's thermal springs survey lists HUTLINANA HOT SPRINGS at 109°F, a reading at the vent. A 2015 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner trip report gives the pool as 106°F, citing Kyle Joly's book Outside in the Interior.