Agua Caliente Springs

Agua Caliente Springs is the centerpiece of Agua Caliente County Park, a camping park run by the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation at the base of the mountains west of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The county's mailing address puts it at Julian, but the park sits far out in the desert in eastern San Diego County. The county calls the park famous for its geothermally heated springs and rugged desert hiking, and says it has three natural mineral pools. The county brochure says the Kumeyaay were drawn to the springs for their water centuries before Juan Bautista de Anza, the first European visitor, and that the name means "hot water" in Spanish. Pioneers, soldiers and prospectors used the springs later. The brochure credits a spur of the Elsinore fault under the park with letting the water reach the surface. The U.S. Geological Survey listed the site as a spring and measured it at 99°F on February 3, 1961, at about 1,390 feet; NOAA's thermal springs survey lists it at 101°F. Of the three pools, two are outdoors, one of them a children's pool. The indoor pool is a spa with jets that the county says averages 102°F; a secondary source says the indoor pool is heated, and the county publishes no outdoor-pool temperature. The indoor pool is adults-only from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and open to adults and kids 14 and older until 5 p.m. The outdoor and children's pools are open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The park is seasonal, open from Labor Day weekend to Memorial Day, and day use runs 9:30 a.m. to sunset. Day-use parking is $5 and pool entry is $7 per person for non-campers. The campground has full- and partial-hookup and tent sites, a group caravan area and seven cabins. Dogs aren't allowed on the trail or the pool decks, and alcohol isn't allowed in the pool areas. The park's phone is (760) 765-1188.

Sources: sdparks.org (1), sdparks.org (2), pubs.usgs.gov, doi.pangaea.de

In California, Agua Caliente Springs sits under a quarter mile from pavement; vehicle clearance on file is sedan / 2wd. Community-pool development, on the operator's own site. The vent reading in NOAA's thermal springs survey is 99°F. Expect the $ entry band on this listing and camping on site is confirmed on the operator's own site. Suit rules are not verified in our sources for this spring.

Source: USGS measured 99°F at the spring on February 3, 1961 (Open-File Report 68-10), and NOAA's thermal springs survey lists AGUA CALIENTE SPRINGS at 101°F. Both are source readings. The county says the indoor spa averages 102°F but publishes no outdoor-pool temperature; a secondary source says the indoor pool is heated. Labeled warm.