Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs is a geothermal area south of Reno in Storey County, with Virginia City about seven miles off. The temperature on file is above the boiling point for this altitude, so this is a place to look at and keep your hands out of. Ownership is unrecorded. There is a photo, and chemistry from 1978.
A tenth of a mile from the Carson-Reno highway brings you to the spring. Elevation is around forty-six hundred feet. Winters put down about four feet of snow. The year is moderately wet for the region. Land unit and designation are both blank in the record, which leaves the question of who manages the ground unanswered.
December through February are the flagged months. The water is scalding, and steam vents and fumaroles are part of the area, so stay on firm ground and keep well back from anything that steams. Short walk from the highway. Ownership is unrecorded, so watch for signs. Mount Rose is the campground on file, about ten miles.
Wikipedia has this as a small volcanic zone, domes of rhyolitic lava and the flows off them, with geothermal activity everywhere across it. Hot springs in numbers. Fumaroles and vents letting off steam. The houses east of Steamboat Creek, below SR 341, are called Steamboat now.
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 Steamboat 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
- Valley floor
- Gentle slopes rise on both sides.
- Highest ground nearby
- 216 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from west to east, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 4 times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 99% 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 Steamboat Springs is neutral (pH 7.0). It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration) and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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Overview Mount Rose Campground is conveniently located between Reno and Lake Tahoe just off scenic Mount Rose Highway. Visitors love the campground for its proximity to excellent hiking trails and recreational opportunities at Lake Tahoe.Recreation Hiking is the most popular pastime at Mount Rose. Several trails, including the Tahoe Meadows, Tahoe Rim, Mount Rose Wilderness and Mount Rose Summit Trails, begin very close to the campground.Facilities Mount Rose contains single and double-family...
Steamboat Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
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