Fish Lake Valley Hot Well

Inyo County, California · Near Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek
37.8600°N, 117.9838°W · 4,750 ft
4,750 ft Open Roadside BLM
Aerial view of the ground around Fish Lake Valley Hot Well LiDAR bare-earth view of the same ground around Fish Lake Valley Hot Well
Aerial LiDAR bare earth

Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.

Fish Lake Valley Hot Well is a geothermal hot well filed under Inyo County, California. Wikipedia calls it a Nevada spring, and the land manager on file is the BLM's Tonopah Field Office. Access is open. The record carries no temperature. The nearest listed town, Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, is forty miles away.

Roadside, within a hundred feet, though the road is unnamed on file. High desert at around 4,700 feet, dry, seven inches of rain most years and a foot and a half of snow. No campground is listed anywhere near it.

With no temperature recorded, nothing on this page tells you whether it is soakable; it is a hot well, and the name says hot, so go find out. Access is open on BLM land. No best months or fee are on record, and no campground is listed. The nearest listed town is forty miles off, so fuel and water are on you.

History of Fish Lake Valley Hot Well

Wikipedia also calls it Fish Lake Hot Well and Fish Lake Hot Spring, and describes it as a geothermal hot spring in Nevada. The record lists it in Inyo County, California, so which state it belongs to depends on whom you ask.

Terrain

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 Fish Lake Valley Hot Well.

Setting
Open ground
Flat, open ground all around.
Highest ground nearby
57 ft above the spring
Within a quarter mile, to the northwest
Cross-section through the spring

A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.

Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.

Heat Below
96 milliwatts per square meter of heat flow

That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 40% 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.

Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.

Monthly Climate
35°
Jan
39°
Feb
47°
Mar
55°
Apr
62°
May
75°
Jun
82°
Jul
80°
Aug
72°
Sep
58°
Oct
45°
Nov
34°
Dec
Annual Precip: 6.8 in Annual Snow: 18.1 in
Current Conditions
SSE 8.1 mph
Today 83° Low 46° Sunny
Wednesday 82° Low 45° Sunny
Thursday 79° Low 45° Sunny
Friday 80° Low 46° Sunny
Saturday 83° Low 48° Sunny
Where to Stay

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Temperature
No data recorded
Avg Air Temp 57°F
Access
Open
Road Access Roadside
Distance to Road 82 ft
Land
Ownership FED
Agency BLM
Designation PUB
Unit Tonopah Field Office
Manager BLM
Protection 3 - Protected, subject to extractive use
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Fish Lake Valley Hot Well located?
Fish Lake Valley Hot Well is located in Inyo County, California at 4,750 feet elevation, near Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek. Coordinates: 37.8600°N, 117.9838°W.
How do I get to Fish Lake Valley Hot Well?
Fish Lake Valley Hot Well has Roadside road access (82 ft from the road).
Is Fish Lake Valley Hot Well free to visit?
Fish Lake Valley Hot Well has Open access. It is managed by BLM.