Devils Kitchen
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Devils Kitchen is a boiling acid thermal area inside Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Kern County, some 26 miles from Inyokern. It is closed to the public. The water was measured at nearly boiling, and a 1964 sample put the pH at one and a half, which is fiercely acidic. This is a geologic feature to read about, because you cannot go.
The site lies on military ground at mid elevation in the desert, behind the base boundary. On paper it is a short walk from an unnamed road, under five hundred feet, which means nothing when the gate is shut. Snow falls some winters, around a foot most years, and rain is scarce. The land is listed under a military designation as part of the weapons station.
There is no visiting. Access is recorded as closed and the land is an active military installation. If you are reading this for the chemistry, note that the only sample on file dates from 1964, with sulfate and iron among the analytes, and the temperature is scalding. Chimney Creek Campground, about nineteen miles away, is the nearest listed camp.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Devils Kitchen.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the south.
- Highest ground nearby
- 186 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
A slice through the ground from north to south, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 61% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Devils Kitchen is strongly acidic (pH 1.5) with 2500 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), and iron (iron-rich springs may support circulation).
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Chimney Creek Campground is located within Chimney Peak Recreation Area and is cherry stemmed out of Owens Peak Wilderness. The campground contains 36 sites and is nestled among beautiful pinyon pines, grey pines, and oaks along Chimney Creek at 5,700 feet in elevation. Each site in the campground has a picnic table and fire ring. Potable water is available during the summer months near the very end of the campground loop at site 36. During the summer, days can be warm and dry. The Pacific C...
Devils Kitchen is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
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