Soda Lake
Soda Lake is a lake, a warm one, on county land in the Soda Lake Recreation Area about six miles from Fallon in Churchill County. The water is tepid, something like a cool bath, and it is extremely mineralized, salty enough that the dissolved solids figure runs into the tens of thousands. Access is open. A 2018 sample supplies the chemistry, which is recent for this database.
From Workman Road it is half a mile on foot to the water. The recreation area is county run, on low desert a little under four thousand feet, and the climate is dry with barely any snow, so weather rarely gets in the way. No fee is recorded and no campground is listed. A photo exists.
December through February is the window the record gives, though water this far below body heat will feel cool in cold air. Plan on a short walk from the road; the path itself is undescribed. Saline water stings cuts and eyes, so rinse off after. No camping is listed, and Fallon is close enough to base out of.
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 Soda Lake.
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
- Level with the spring
- Within a quarter mile
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 75% 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 Soda Lake contains 13800 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), and sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation).
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