Senator Fumaroles

Pershing County, Nevada · Near Lovelock
39.9950°N, 117.8540°W · 3,859 ft
Boiling 44°F air · Good soaking weather 3,859 ft Open Roadside Bureau of Land Management
Fumarole: Not a Soaking Spring

Senator Fumaroles is a fumarole, not a traditional hot spring. These geothermal features can be extremely dangerous. Boiling water, toxic gases, and unstable ground are common hazards. Do not attempt to soak.

Aerial view of the ground around Senator Fumaroles LiDAR bare-earth view of the same ground around Senator Fumaroles
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.

Senator Fumaroles are steam vents. The record calls them boiling and gives no water temperature, which is what you would expect from a fumarole: hot gas venting out of the ground with no pool to sit in. They are on open BLM land in Pershing County, thirty-some miles from Lovelock.

Location
71 miles from Battle Mountain, NV

Stillwater Field Office land, a hundred or so feet from whatever road passes closest. That road has no name on file. Low desert basin elevation. Snow is light here, and the whole year brings around nine inches of moisture. Nothing in the record describes the ground around the vents.

There is no temperature on file and no best-month listing, so pick your own season; summer heat in this basin is the thing to avoid. Anything called boiling deserves distance. Steam at that temperature burns. Fees and camping go unmentioned, and no water chemistry was ever logged. The ground is open BLM.

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 Senator Fumaroles.

Setting
Hillside
The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the northwest.
Highest ground nearby
712 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
116 milliwatts per square meter of heat flow

That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 68% 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
36°
Jan
40°
Feb
48°
Mar
55°
Apr
63°
May
75°
Jun
84°
Jul
83°
Aug
73°
Sep
58°
Oct
45°
Nov
34°
Dec
Annual Precip: 8.5 in Annual Snow: 15.7 in
Current Conditions
44°F
ENE 14.4 mph 39% Good soaking weather
Tuesday 84° Low 53° Mostly Sunny
Wednesday 84° Low 54° Sunny
Thursday 80° Low 55° Sunny
Friday 84° Low 53° Sunny
Saturday 86° Low 55° Sunny 1% precip
Temperature
Boiling
Warm Hot Boiling
Avg Air Temp 58°F
Access
Open
Road Access Roadside
Distance to Road 109 ft
Land
Ownership Federal
Agency Bureau of Land Management
Designation PUB
Unit Stillwater Field Office
Manager Bureau of Land Management
Protection 3 - Protected, subject to extractive use
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the water temperature at Senator Fumaroles?
Senator Fumaroles is classified as boiling. An exact temperature measurement has not been recorded.
Where is Senator Fumaroles located?
Senator Fumaroles is located in Pershing County, Nevada at 3,859 feet elevation, near Lovelock. Coordinates: 39.9950°N, 117.8540°W.
How do I get to Senator Fumaroles?
Senator Fumaroles has Roadside road access (109 ft from the road).
Is Senator Fumaroles free to visit?
Senator Fumaroles has Open access. It is managed by Bureau of Land Management.