Wild Waters: The San Francisco Hot Springs Trek

Send us a text

Note: This is audio only; please see YouTube for the whole video experience. Thanks! Please send us an email!

The quest for natural wonders often leads to unexpected discoveries. My journey to San Francisco Hot Springs, tucked away in New Mexico's Gila National Forest, proved to be exactly that kind of revelation.

Setting off from the trailhead in my truck (affectionately named "Black Panther"), I began the 1.3-mile descent toward the promise of wild thermal waters. The trail offered solitude interrupted only by chance encounters—a horseback rider with his pack of hunting dogs, and later, two surprisingly friendly burros wearing bells who eagerly ate peanuts from my hand. These unplanned animal meetings added a layer of charm to the adventure that no developed hot spring could provide.

Reaching the springs required crossing the ice-cold San Francisco River, where the water reached just below my knees. The reward waiting on the other side was worth wet feet: natural pools where thermal waters bubble up alongside the river, creating perfect soaking spots. Unlike commercial hot springs, these wild pools held a different magic—lukewarm waters shared with tiny fish, all surrounded by the untamed beauty of the desert-forest transition zone. The contrast between the frigid river and the comforting warmth of the geothermal pool created a sensory experience that connected me deeply to the landscape.

The entire adventure—from trailhead to hot springs and back—took about 3.23 miles of hiking and roughly two hours, including a leisurely soak. For anyone seeking to escape the developed world, even briefly, this hidden gem offers both challenge and comfort. The springs' primitive nature means they're constantly changing with the river's patterns, ensuring each visit offers something new.

Have you explored wild hot springs before? If not, the San Francisco Hot Springs might be your perfect introduction to nature's therapeutic waters. Pack water shoes for the river crossing, watch for the thorny desert vegetation, and don't forget treats to make friends with the local burros!

Click the link to send us an email! 

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's the old Black Panther behind me.

(00:01):
That's what I call my truck,and this is Craig the Natural
Medic, embarking on a trek downthis trail to the San Francisco
Hot Springs.
On the map it says the FriscoHot Springs.
It's either the San Franciscoor the Frisco.
It's about a mile and a thirddown to the river.
The springs are just rightalong the river.
I've got my shorts in here.

(00:21):
Wearing pants right now.
I guess I could probably've gotmy shorts in here, wearing
pants right now.
I guess I could probably changeinto my shorts.
I'll just take them with me.
I've got a pair of shorts tojump in the hot springs.
I wanted to go check it out.
I've never been to a wild hotsprings, I've only been to
formalized hot springs.
Hope you'll go with me as Icheck out the San Francisco hot
springs here in the GilaNational Forest outside of

(00:42):
Glenwood, new Mexico.
All right, I'm about halfway onthe trail here to get down to
where the hot springs are Prettyprimitive out here.
I do see some power lines overin the distance to my right, but

(01:04):
so far that's the onlycivilization I've seen, other
than the bathroom at thetrailhead.
Let's see what we find out.
Stay tuned.
Just ran into a gentleman, nicegentleman, on horseback, with
about I don't know almost adozen dogs.
Most of them had radio collars,that kind of sounds.
Most of them Very friendlypuppies.

(01:25):
A couple of them were alittlears that kind of sounds.
Most of them Very friendlypuppies.
A couple of them were a littletoo friendly and jumped up on me
, but that's okay, looks like wego down here.
I can see the river and Italked to that gentleman.
There are some burrows downthere of somebody's's, and he
said that there's several poolspeople have made.

(01:47):
He wasn't real familiar with it.
He has never really done that,which I'm like.
But hey, to each his own right.
Lucky, he was having a nicetime with his pups just riding
his horse through the trail here.
So we'll see what we can drumup.
Hey, by the way, like thisvideo, give it a good ol' thumbs

(02:10):
up.
That'll push it out to morepeople so they can see it on
YouTube.
And think about subscribing ifyou want to see more videos like
this.
Hey, thanks, I made some newfriends.
I hope that mules or burros orwhatever these are, they're one
or the other.
I hope that they can eatpeanuts.

(02:30):
I'm pretty sure they can.
But if you hear about someburros dying on the news, it
wasn't me.
Somebody's definitely missingsome burros, though one of
them's got a bell on and they'reboth very tame so they're very
sweet.
I gave them some peanuts.

(02:51):
Then they wanted more peanutsfamous last words.
I did have to go through theriver.
I had to go through the riverright here.
You can probably see I'm wetfrom the upper Shandown.
Here's a big rock cairn rightthere, so I guess this is the

(03:15):
right way.
I found a hot springs pool, notexactly what I anticipated, but
it looks pretty neat.
There are little fishes inthere, but the water is pretty
warm compared to you can see it.
Bubbling up there compared tothe surrounding when I walked

(03:36):
through, the river was ice cold.
I'm just gonna step in here bythe way, I don't have any
clothes on feels lukewarmbathwater.
I don't feel too bad aboutbeing out here nude.
Hopefully you can't see areflection of me, so I'm not
trying to be that kind ofchannel, but the river is

(04:00):
running right there and here Iam in this little pool.
How crazy is that?
Yep, my clothing and backpackare up there.
Hopefully, when I get out ofhere in a few minutes.
My burro friends will still behere.
They were cute, they wantedsome food, so I gave them, and

(04:20):
hopefully burros, like I said,can eat peanuts.
That's what I had for them tohave, so I gave them peanuts.
They even ate out of my hand.
It's crazy.
So definitely, gentle littleguys or girls, I'm not sure
which one, but that's abeautiful spot.
Sun's coming over the top ofthe mountain, just beautiful.

(04:42):
I'm filming this on AprilFool's, but I'm definitely no
fool for the San Francisco hotsprings.
I had allotted my time to about30 minutes to be down here
exploring the spring area andthat time has elapsed so I need
to get ready to head back up thetrail and back to my vehicle
and on to Silver City.

(05:02):
I'll reflect some more as I getup the trail.
Here was a nice pool I was inVery comfortable, not super hot
water, but definitely warmerthan the river water.
These things move around fromtime to time, so this may not be
here whenever you visit.
This is my two mule friends, orburros.

(05:40):
If you see them, bring themsome snacks.
One thing you do have to do youhave to cross the water to get
to the other side.
So either wear water shoes orwear shoes.
You don't mind getting wetbecause you're going to get a
little wet.
I'm six footish and came up toright below my knees.

(06:06):
That's not too bad.
Remember everything out here inthe desert when the transition
to the desert in the forest.
Watch out for the pokey bushes.
There's lots of pokey thingsout here little thorns
everywhere, a little mesquitetrees and other related baddies

(06:30):
coming back into view here.
It's a big green water tankover there looks like a tanker
from a train that's repurposed.
Maybe there's some paddocks andother things over there.
I'll be for some water stock.
I got back about the time Iwanted to be getting back.

(06:51):
I really wanted to be backabout 6.30.
The sun is going down, stillwindy, which is okay, and I'm
going to head on down the roadto Silver City.
Stand by for a sum up.
I've changed back shirts andI've got to the end of the trail

(07:12):
.
It was about 3.23 milesaccording to my Garmin, took
about an hour and 42 of actualhiking time.
I lighted myself 30 minutesdown, 30 minutes up and 30
minutes in the hot spring and Ipretty much held to that.
Definitely a neat place tocheck out.
If you need directions, I'llput those down in the

(07:33):
description below.
Did you like the video?
If you did, give it a thumbs up, think about subscribing to the
channel for more great content.
Appreciate you watching.
Take care Bye.