Unnamed Thermal Spring
OpenStreetMap knows this one as Three Forks Hot Spring; the survey record leaves it unnamed. It is a warm spring on BLM ground in Owyhee County, thirty-one miles from Murphy, with a recorded temperature in the mid nineties, warm enough to sit in without being hot. Access is open. Getting there takes a hike of about a mile and a half from Skull Creek Road.
Skull Creek Road is where you leave the car. From there it's a mile and six tenths of walking. The ground belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, Vale Malheur Field Office. Elevation is a hair under four thousand feet, high desert and dry. Snow in a normal winter runs about two and a half feet. Camping on record is North Fork Campground, roughly eleven miles off.
Winter carries the best rating, December through February, though snow will be a factor in the approach on a hike this long. Access is open, no fee listed. Camp at North Fork, eleven miles out. No water chemistry has been filed. Mid-nineties water feels warm in cold weather and mild in summer heat.
The OpenStreetMap name, Three Forks Hot Spring, is the only name attached to this spring anywhere on file, and the USGS lists it as a numbered thermal site.
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A small popular semi-developed site offers camping and picnicking in the scenic beauty of the North Fork of the Owyhee River Canyon, much of which was designated Wilderness in March 2009. There is no potable water at this site.
this spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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