Warm Spring
This warm spring emerges in the southern San Joaquin Valley foothills at just 866 feet elevation, where semiarid conditions and Tehachapi Mountain terrain create a transition zone. Located near Arvin, it offers geothermal resources in one of California's hottest regions.
The spring sits amid chaparral vegetation, digger pines, and seasonal grasslands in the foothill belt southeast of Bakersfield. A short 430-foot walk from the nearest road brings you to thermal waters in a landscape where summer temperatures routinely exceed 95°F and heat stress shapes the ecology.
Waters rising here benefit from deep crustal circulation in the transition zone between the southern San Joaquin Valley and the Tehachapi Mountains. Tectonically active faulting in this region enables geothermal resources that contrast with the cooler Cascade and Sierra systems to the north.
The spring lies within easy walking distance of a road in the Kern County foothills. The warm, semiarid climate here—averaging nearly 66°F annually with minimal precipitation and negligible snow—makes for pleasant conditions even during California's mild winters.