Mono Hot Springs
Sierra National Forest (Kaiser Pass, above Huntington Lake) · near Huntington Lake / Fresno · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Swimming & Hot Springs
At a glance
- Temperature
- 95–107°F
- Cost
- Resort tubs/bathhouse: fee · Riverside primitive pools: FREE
- Season
- Roughly June–October ONLY — Kaiser Pass Road closes with snow
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Safety
- Kaiser Pass Road demands patience and pullout etiquette; not for big rigs. Primitive pools vary in temperature — test first. The season is short; confirm the road is open.
Swimming & Hot Springs detail
- Type
- hot-spring
- Temp
- hot
- Clothing optional
- Yes
- Directions
- From Fresno: Hwy 168 to Huntington Lake, then Kaiser Pass Road — a legendarily narrow, slow, one-lane 17 miles (allow an hour) — to the resort at 6,700ft on the San Joaquin River.
- Pools
- A rustic 1930s resort (bathhouse tubs, cabins, campground, small store) on one bank of the San Joaquin, and a scatter of free primitive rock pools across the river — hot seeps feeding stone tubs with High Sierra views.
- Intl tip
- Pair with Doris Lake's warm swimming (15-min hike) and the Mono Creek corridor. Edison Lake's ferry serves JMT/PCT hikers just up the road — the Vermilion Valley Resort there is a legendary thru-hiker stop worth a beer.
The guide
Mono Hot Springs is the High Sierra's summer-camp soak — a rustic 1930s resort at 6,700 feet on the San Joaquin River, reached …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mono Hot Springs — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.326, -119.018