AKA: Hot Creek Geological Site This was also on our bucket list for our 395 road trip. We should’ve gone there earlier, since it’s located near Wild Willy’s Hot Springs but we didn’t go until a day later, we did so much driving in circles lol. Directions: you can type into Google Maps, Hot Creek Geological Site, and it will lead you there. You take Benton Crossing and go right when the road forks, I think it’s called Whitmore something. 6 miles of the road is graded dirt road. My Mazda 6 made it. There are vault toilets here. The site is amazing! When we went, we saw one other car. We went when it was slightly snowing though, so it made it 10x more beautiful! Great picture ops.
Mike D.
Place rating: 5 Encinitas, San Diego, CA
Amazing place. We went with the intention of taking a dip in the river but abandoned that idea after waking up and down the river and testing the water temp. It is most definitely not safe. At one time it apparently was cool enough to get into but those days are over. If you hope the fence and walk the river banks be ultra careful not to slip. If you fall in this water you’re pretty much toast. It’s that hot. All that being said, the entire gorge is gorgeous. It’s well worth a walk from the first parking lot coming from the highway down to the hot portion and back. Amazing place.
Joe R.
Place rating: 3 Reno, NV
Visiting the Hot Creek Geologic Site is like sitting atop a ticking time bomb. I wanted to get closer to the bubbling blue hot springs and steaming fumaroles, but obeyed the warning signs and respected the area’s deadly history. Since the 1960s, 14 people have been killed or seriously scalded here by pulses of super-heated groundwater. In the summer of 2006, renewed geologic activity and intensified geothermal conditions resulted in the closure of the site to bathing. Usually, the duration of the human lifespan is out-of-sync with geologic time. At Hot Creek; however, the hot magma beneath the 760,000 year old Long Valley Caldera continues to shake, rattle, and boil our world.
Marvelous Margaret M.
Place rating: 5 San Francisco, CA
It’s been many many years since I have been here, however the stream/river and hot springs haven’t changed in hundreds of years. There are springs that are too hot for bathing. You should be careful before jumping into any natural hot springs. Hello common sense. It is a fun place. Not your usual swimming pool. The scenery of Convict Lake upstream is indescribable. Super picturesque.
K h.
Place rating: 3 San Francisco, CA
I’m not going to say this place is a waste of time, but it only took like 30 minutes to walk down, look at the hot springs from afar, stare at a deer, then walk back to the car. Apparently there was a time when people could go into the springs, but I don’t think that time is now. There are a ton of warning signs and nearly everything is gated off. Sure, you could hop it, but then you risk joining that group of 14 who were seriously injured or died going in there.
Peter D.
Place rating: 4 Alhambra, CA
Nice place to explore, but the signs clearly state to keep out of the hot springs. Scalding water. Unstable ground. Sure, that’s understandable. Of course, I come across a group of nude bathers. Before I can turn away, I get a full moon of some dude toweling himself off. C’mon, man. It kinda ruined the experience for me, but overall, still an interesting place to check out.
Sara L.
Place rating: 5 Willow Spring, NC
I had no idea people *actually* went swimming here-Hubby and I came here because it’s a Geological site. Drove around and enjoyed the scenery as well. If you’re into geological sites, come on down! Or, if you’re into getting burned and tickets from Rangers, you can do that, too.
Shannon Z.
Place rating: 4 San Francisco, CA
Eastern Sierra’s geothermal hot spring, once a swinging 60’s hang out but now more low key and family-like. There are multiple pools/locations here and a creek that connects the water. Cows, vast opens fields and a scenic, snowy topped mountain scape. Hot Creek is located in a remote area, a few miles outside of the town of Mammoth Lakes. From US395, go east on Hot Creek Hatchery Rd/Airport. After less than a mile, you will see a sign to «Hot Creek Geothermal Area». The last mile or so, before the parking lot, is unpaved. The park provides changing rooms and primitive toilets only.
Reggie G.
Place rating: 5 Bend, OR
This place is so beautiful and wonderfrul for swimming, which is why it gets 5 stars. It is also incredibly expensive — mainly because we got 2 huge tickets for swimming. They have recently outlawed swimming here but being the outlaws we are, we decided to go in anyways. When we got out, 2 rangers were waiting for us with 2 fat tickets for $ 175 each. Wah-wah!
Ed R.
Place rating: 4 Sydney, Australia
All the websites advise against swimming here, due to the danger of getting burned in the water. The water coming off the mountains is cold, while the hot gases coming up through the sand heats columns of water. So you have to move around as the bubbles come up to get the warm water that’s not too hot. A bit like coccoon with all the old people, mixed with a few drunken frat boys.
