Unnamed Thermal Spring
Sixty miles from Lovelock, out in Pershing County, an unnamed thermal point on land the Black Rock Field Office administers discharges water a hair short of boiling. Nobody soaks in this. It is something to look at from a safe distance. The BLM lists access as open. A USGS sample from July 1980 showed neutral water, with iron among the dissolved salts. The nearest city on file is Lovelock.
Low basin elevation. The road is about eight tenths of a mile off and unnamed on the record. Little snow, a foot or so most winters, and very little rain. Dry country. Ordinary public land with no further designation, and no camping recorded anywhere near.
The rated window is December through February. Near-boiling water. Stay well back from the source. Nothing on file about a fee or a campground. Access is listed open; the ground is Black Rock Field Office territory. The sample date is 1980, and nothing newer is on record.
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 this spring.
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
- 11 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the east
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 24% 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 This spring is neutral (pH 7.0). It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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this spring 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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