The Spring Canyon Recreation Area is located to the southwest in the northern Florida Mountains and is open only for day use.

The Little Florida Mountains, where the main unit is located, was covered with volcanic ash around 33.5 million years ago.

This may be Oak Creek Tuff erupted from the Juniper caldera in the Animas Mountains to the west.

Other vents, now impossible to find, erupted andesite over the tuff 28.5 million years ago.

The area was mined for precious metals, copper, lead, manganese, and fluorite from about 1880 to 1956.