Buckeye Hot Spring

If you're passing

Is it plungeworthy?

—temperature

A natural thermal spring.

Scale30/60

Documentation14/20

Character10/20

The details

Soak: Temperature unrecorded
Area: Walker Lake
Coordinates: 38.237, -119.326

Get directions →

About Buckeye Hot Spring

Buckeye Hot Spring is a natural hot spring in California.

At that temperature it's temperature unrecorded — check current conditions and always test the water before getting in.

Plungeworthy rates Buckeye Hot Spring 5.4/10 — if you're passing. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.

What you'll find

Creekside pools below a 140°F spring that sheets over a rock lip into Buckeye Creek — hillside pools above, creek-mixed pools below, count and temperature changing with every season's flow. Primitive, forested, and the quieter sibling to Travertine ten miles away.

Getting there

Parking: Dirt pullout on Buckeye Creek Road, short steep scramble down
Road: Forest dirt road, passenger-car passable dry, snowed in come winter
Hike: 0.3 mi round trip, 100 ft of climb (moderate)
Heads up: Pools silt up and get re-dug by visitors — what you find depends on who came before you.

When to go

Summer through fall, when the creek drops and the mixing pools warm to purpose. Runoff season drowns them cold.

Rules & fees

Fee / pass: None — national forest
Hours: None posted
Camping: Buckeye Campground on the same creek; dispersed camping around
Warnings: Slick creek rock; head above water, same amoeba caution as every warm still pool.

Researched from Mammoth Lakes Recreation — Buckeye · USFS — Buckeye Campground. Conditions change — verify before you drive. Been to Buckeye Hot Spring recently? Post a conditions report below.

Where it is

Planning a visit? We want your photo.

Buckeye Hot Spring doesn't have a photo yet. If you make the trip, send one to hello@plungeworthy.com and we'll publish it here with credit to you.

Before you go

The pin marks the feature, not a trailhead or a legal route in. Some sit on private land or need a real hike, and conditions change with season and rain. Check local access, don't trespass, and never enter water — hot or cold — where it isn't safe.