Mud Springs
Mud Springs in Pershing County is one to be careful around. The water comes out scalding, far beyond anything skin can take, hot enough to burn in seconds. The land is BLM, Black Rock Field Office, with public access on record as open. Lovelock is the nearest town, nearly sixty miles off. Come to watch the steam.
A few hundred feet of walking from the nearest track gets you there; the record does not identify that track. The ground is low by Nevada standards, under four thousand feet, and dry. Snow arrives in modest amounts through the winter, under two feet in a typical year, with ten inches or so of moisture in total. No campground is on file.
December through February are the months listed as best. Stay well back from the source. A water sample from the mid 1960s showed high dissolved solids, sulfate and chloride among them, and nobody has updated the chemistry since. Open access, no fee listed. Lovelock is a long drive back for anything you forgot.
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 Springs.
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
- 87 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, 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 25% 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 Mud Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 7.9) with 4420 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits), and total dissolved solids (higher mineral concentration for therapeutic soaking).
Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Mud Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.