When I got my GPS unit about 6 years ago I instantly became obsessed with trying to find hidden or little known places. Well, that eventually turned into trying to find hot springs in and around San Luis Obispo. And that lead me to this site that list all the known hot springs in California and their GPS coordinates. There is a few ways to use this data: 1) Click the link on the site and it will take you to a nice topo map 2) Put the coordinates straight into your GPS unit 3) Put all the points of interest into Google maps by using Batch Geo (Easier to copy and paste data into excel, format, then paste into Batch Geo). I actually do all of these things because once you get there it is better to have too much information.
To be honest I did not have the best luck finding most of the hot springs. I started looking for them too late in my college career. But it is a goal of mine to find them when I visit.
Here is a list of the local hot springs and a link to a map of San Luis Obispo Hot Springs
On the top of the list, the spring with no name. I searched for a while and I believe it is located some where in the middle of the river.
The Paso Robles Artesian Spring I believe is one of the springs that is used by Paso Robles Inn. I guess the reason that Paso Robles is even in existence is because of the Natural Hot Springs. Many people including the Native Americans believed in the healing powers and would travel to Paso Robles just to soak. It also appears that another part of this giant underground spring came to the surface after the 2003 Earthquake and can be seen in the parking lot of City Hall.
Newsom Springs (confirmed in the comments by the owner that this is on private property) - I have not visited this one, but it is worth checking out (map). According to the Geothermal Map of California it is 97 F and used for baths or pools. Here is one other description I found, "Newsom's Hot Springs are in Newsom Canyon, a tributary of Arroyo Grande Valley. The hot sulfur springs, emanting from Miocene rocks, occur probably along minerlized sones. The springs had been developed for public use. One of the springs issued water of 100F. An 1888 chemical analysis showed that the spring water was magnesium-calcium-sodium bicarbonate in character and had a TDS concentration of 630 mg/L" - Source
The other spring in Paso Robles called Santa Ysabel Springs (Sulphur Springs) is really the only one I was successful finding. I am pretty sure this one is on private property so go at your own risk. We parked up on the road, then walked down into the creek and after about 2 minutes were pleasantly surprised to see a man-made pool around the spring. It hadn't been used in probably decades, but the water was a bit warm. By the time we found it though we didn't have much time, so I would like to go back and explore the workings a bit more.
Here is a list of the local hot springs and a link to a map of San Luis Obispo Hot Springs
| STATE | LAT | LONG | Popular or USGS Spring Name | TF | TC | USGS quadrangle | |
| CA | 35.649 | -120.687 | 108 | 42 | (PASO ROBLES 7.5) | ||
| CA | 35.663 | -120.692 | PASO ROBLES ARTESIAN SPRING | 102 | 39 | (PASO ROBLES 7.5) | |
| CA | 35.122 | -120.542 | NEWSOM SPRINGS | 99 | 37 | OCEANO 7.5 | |
| CA | 35.269 | -120.851 | PECHO WARM SPRINGS | 95 | 35 | (MORRO BAY SOUTH 7.5) | |
| CA | 35.582 | -120.666 | SANTA YSABEL SPRINGS (SULPHUR SPR) | 92 | 33 | TEMPLETON 7.5 | |
| CA | 35.908 | -120.367 | TABLE MOUNTAIN (SPRING) | 88 | 31 | (THE DARK HOLE 7.5) | |
| CA | 35.4 | -120.25 | CAMETA WARM SPRING | 73 | 23 | (LA PANZA RANCH 7.5) |
The Paso Robles Artesian Spring I believe is one of the springs that is used by Paso Robles Inn. I guess the reason that Paso Robles is even in existence is because of the Natural Hot Springs. Many people including the Native Americans believed in the healing powers and would travel to Paso Robles just to soak. It also appears that another part of this giant underground spring came to the surface after the 2003 Earthquake and can be seen in the parking lot of City Hall.Newsom Springs (confirmed in the comments by the owner that this is on private property) - I have not visited this one, but it is worth checking out (map). According to the Geothermal Map of California it is 97 F and used for baths or pools. Here is one other description I found, "Newsom's Hot Springs are in Newsom Canyon, a tributary of Arroyo Grande Valley. The hot sulfur springs, emanting from Miocene rocks, occur probably along minerlized sones. The springs had been developed for public use. One of the springs issued water of 100F. An 1888 chemical analysis showed that the spring water was magnesium-calcium-sodium bicarbonate in character and had a TDS concentration of 630 mg/L" - Source
(map courtesy of Brandon Stevens)
Pecho Warm Springs is out in Montana De Oro, I was close to finding this one until the dog got some ticks and we had to turn around. The spring appears to just be off the dirt road/trail that is right before you get into the cove. Look at the map above and good luck.
The other spring in Paso Robles called Santa Ysabel Springs (Sulphur Springs) is really the only one I was successful finding. I am pretty sure this one is on private property so go at your own risk. We parked up on the road, then walked down into the creek and after about 2 minutes were pleasantly surprised to see a man-made pool around the spring. It hadn't been used in probably decades, but the water was a bit warm. By the time we found it though we didn't have much time, so I would like to go back and explore the workings a bit more.
EDIT: I was contacted by the The Santa Ysabel Ranch Homeowners Association. This area is PRIVATE PROPERTY and actively patrols for tresspassers and the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's department removes/cites violators. Vehicles parked outside the gates are towed.
Table Mountain Spring and Cameta Warm Spring are both a good distance from San Luis Obispo, so I never took the opportunity to even look for them. If you have any luck finding any of these springs please post in the comments. I will update this post with any progress.
My buddy and I found the Santa Ysabel spring last night. Too late to take a dip but woth the find. Going to hit up again at a later date.
ReplyDeleteJust attempted pecho warm spring with no success. The fire road is in great shape but once you turn off the trail is SEVERELY overgrown and not pleasant. Despite the poison oak everywhere I continued up the old trail all the way to a saddle. No springs in sight the whole route up
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking Brandon. If you have success on any of the others, please report back.
DeleteNo problem, awesome post. I think the Newsom springs may be on private land but I'm going to try and figure it out.
DeleteHello again Jeff, I happened to be stumbling through my old bookmarks and found your page again. I'd recommend taking down the satellite image marked "spur trail" "park" and "waypoint d" as it is incorrect. Greg was asking about the discrepancy. I'll be on the Central Coast this coming week, maybe I'll look into Newsom springs.
DeleteThanks for the reminder - it has been removed and just the map you provided is shown. Have fun.
DeleteHey just wondering if anyone has some input on ones that are a likely find? Pecho seemed good until i read the above comment. Santa Ysabel seemed pretty cool and i would love to find that one some time. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteThe two maps shown for the Pecho spring show conflicting locations. Brandon Stevens commented that he was unsuccessful in finding the spring, but one of those maps is provided by Brandon Stevens, did he go back again and find it and provide this new location?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing Brandon did go back and find it, per this site: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2032606.
A few years has past since I was initially interested in a few of these springs. But I did some digging on Newsom's Spring and it seems to be located on a private ranch. I did extensive searching on the satellite imagery with little luck. Although I was able to find this information confirming it is out there somewhere...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/history/sanluisobispo/hot-sulphur-springs.txt
https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/B4GItem.action?id=201080297
Did you ever find pecho warm springs? I have tried searching but got stuck from poison oak!
DeleteHi there, I live on the Newsom Springs property and yes, it is private, so please respect that. I can confirm it's more like a warm spring than hot :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting. It's always nice to know the truth and I'll add a note above so people know it is private. Any future plans to make it public?
DeleteI found the Pecho Spring in 2003 and it was warm for about five years. I can supply more info. Jeff Wheelwright
ReplyDeleteYes, please supply more information if you have it. It would be great to finally find this one.
DeletePecho Warm Springs is defunct-- for the second time. Send me an email at jwheeljr@gmail.com and I'll send you a write-up of my account. Though Brandon's note on the map indicates otherwise, I am quite confident I'm right. His two posts suggest to me that he found one of several warm trickles into the creek, which are common but are not proof of the spring.
ReplyDeleteI hiked up the fire road all the way to the gate with a camera on it. Inquired about it at the old spooner ranch house. I would love to hear any info about this
ReplyDeleteI hiked around the fire road until the gated end. I inquired with the docents at the spooner house Who said the family used to have tubs there where they charged admission. I couldn’t see anywhere safe to hike into the ravine. I would LOVE any info
ReplyDeleteI also found Pecho Warm Springs, or at least one source of it, in Islay Creek around 2017/18. Water was warm and being used by fish/tadpoles as breeding grounds. Mud in bottom of creek was warm and there is another, more voluminous source of warm water cascading down into the creek at that location. I tried to follow it up but fallen trees/brush made it impassable. Beautiful spot though, just adds to the mysterious beauty of montana de oro
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I theorize that the long drought in our area may have dried up the source of the warm water that I found. I was able to get my whole body into the spring and have a soak in 2003. With the relatively wet years we've had recently, it may have come back. I'll go look.
DeleteAny tips on how you got there? I've attempted a few times only to be stopped by poison oak
DeleteIt's difficult now that State Parks has abandoned the South Islay Creek Trail. If I were to try today, I'd get into the creek at a good spot off the road, walk upstream to the fork, hang a right and continue for maybe a half mile. You'll pass little warm trickles and smell suphur but they are misleading. Any strong whitish flow into the water coming from the bench above the right bank should be investigated. The spring I found was about 20 yards off the creek. Keep me posted here. It's a fun outing. Sort of
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for laying out what is and isn't possible for finding some of these spots. Have been scouring the USGS list and wondering about springs in this area.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for laying out what is and isn't possible for finding some of these spots. Have been scouring the USGS list and wondering about springs in this area.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for laying out what is and isn't possible for finding some of these spots. Have been scouring the USGS list and wondering about springs in this area.
ReplyDelete