Fumaroles
A group of fumaroles, steam vents with no pool, on Inyo National Forest land about two miles from Mammoth Lakes. Access is open. No water temperature is on file, only a remark that the ground runs hot. Nothing to soak in. The USGS tracks the site. Lake Mary Campground is close.
High in the Sierra, a third of a mile or so from the nearest road, on Inyo National Forest land. Snow is enormous here, around sixteen feet a year, and the cold holds for most of the calendar. Lake Mary Campground and the town of Mammoth Lakes are both near.
No best months are listed. Given the snowfall, time a visit for the snow free months. Forest Service ground, open, with no fee on record. There is no pool and no temperature, so come to look. Lake Mary Campground is right there. The USGS keeps a site record for the vent field.
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 Fumaroles.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the north.
- Highest ground nearby
- 817 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
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 twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 77% 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.
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Overview Lake Mary is the star of the Mammoth Lakes region. Of the 11 lakes in the area, Mary is the largest and most developed. Lake Mary Campground is a large facility with plenty of amenities in and around it. The lake provides a great base for activities like fishing, viewing waterfalls, hiking and backpacking.Recreation Lake Mary receives the highest number of trout stocks in the Mammoth Lakes Basin, and is well-known to anglers for its rainbow, brook and brown trout fishing. No swimmin...
At 8,167 feet, Fumaroles is in high-altitude territory where the air is noticeably thinner. Soaking in hot water accelerates dehydration and can amplify altitude effects like headache and fatigue. UV radiation is roughly 33% stronger here. Wear sunscreen even on overcast days and take breaks from the water to rehydrate.
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Fumaroles is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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