Mud Pots
The Mud Pots near Niland in Imperial County are a thermal feature where hot mud and water reach the surface below sea level at the edge of the Salton Sea. The recorded temperature is near body heat. Land is listed under the irrigation district, and public access is marked open. This is a thing to look at.
A walk of a bit under half a mile from McDonald Road. The ground sits more than two hundred feet below the level of the ocean at the southern Salton Sea. Three inches of rain is a normal year. No snow. The annual average sits near eighty degrees. The irrigation district holds the land. No campground is listed nearby.
Visit in the cool months. The record names December through February. Summer heat on the Salton Sea floor is punishing. Access is open. Nothing on file about a fee or a campground. The temperature on record is around 100 degrees, a warm-bath number, though the record does not describe a pool, and the name suggests mud, so come to look.
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 Mud Pots.
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
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 3 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
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 70% 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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Mud Pots is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Bring sun protection for exposed soaking.
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