Gaviota Hot Springs

Gaviota Hot Springs, also known as Las Cruces Hot Springs or Sulphur Springs, is a small natural sulfur spring in the backcountry of Gaviota State Park on the Santa Barbara County coast. California State Parks puts the park 33 miles west of Santa Barbara on U.S. 101 and says its multi-use trails lead into oak woodland and chaparral backcountry, natural sulfur hot springs and lookouts with sweeping views. The park covers about 2,712 acres, and day use runs from 7 a.m. to sunset. This is a warm soak, not a hot one. When the U.S. Geological Survey measured the spring on September 14, 1962, the water was 99°F where it issued, in a dense thicket on a hillside at about 650 feet, flowing roughly 10 gallons a minute. The survey classed it as sodium bicarbonate water, noted that it was piped to a concrete bathing tub, and recorded its use as bathing. NOAA's thermal springs survey also lists Las Cruces Hot Springs at 99°F. No agency publishes a current pool temperature, so expect a warm dip and check the water yourself. The springs have a long paper trail. The USGS's 1915 report Springs of California describes four warm springs on a hillside about 4 miles north of the Gaviota railroad station, together furnishing about 50 gallons a minute of mildly sulphureted water, with inflammable gas rising in two of them. It placed them in a little swale half a mile from and 400 feet above the main drainage canyon, with a calcareous ledge behind the largest spring, and noted a bathhouse there in 1908. Access depends on the trails and the weather. State Parks' general plan update flags the hot springs as vulnerable to road and trail closures, and in 2023 the department carried out storm damage repairs on the Hot Springs Fire Road. California State Parks lists vehicle day use at Gaviota State Park at $10 and accepts vehicle day-use passes. Its fee schedule says there is no charge to walk or bike into most parks, and the park page does not say whether the hot springs trailhead lot charges, so the fee is for vehicle entry and parking rather than for the soak itself. Dogs are allowed in the campground and day-use area and not on the beach. The park's number is (805) 968-1033.

Sources: parks.ca.gov (1), parks.ca.gov (2), pubs.usgs.gov, doi.org, ecrgplanupdate.com (1), ecrgplanupdate.com (2), files.ceqanet.lci.ca.gov, doi.pangaea.de

Gaviota Peak Trail passes within a quarter mile of Gaviota Hot Springs (California). Filed as an undeveloped backcountry pool on the operator's own site. Vent temperature from NOAA's survey: 99°F. Expect the $ entry band on this listing and our amenity fields are blank for this listing. Our sources are silent on clothing policy at this spring.

Source: USGS measured 99°F where the spring issues on September 14, 1962 (Open-File Report 68-10), and NOAA's thermal springs survey lists LAS CRUCES HOT SPRINGS at 99°F. Both are source readings; no pool temperature is published. Labeled warm.