Upper Shellbourne Spring
The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Upper Shellbourne Spring runs tepid, low seventies, too cool for a proper soak. It is in White Pine County, Nevada, about twenty-eight miles from McGill, on BLM ground under the Bristlecone Field Office. Access is listed open. The USGS keeps it on its list of sites, yet nobody has ever sampled the chemistry.
High country, and the winters are cold and long. No name is recorded for the closest road, which lies roughly a third of a mile away, a short walk. Average the twelve months together and you get the mid-forties. Snowfall in a normal season reaches three and a half feet. East Creek Campground is the nearest camping known, some twenty-one miles off.
The record rates December through February best, which at this elevation means snow. Tepid water will not help with cold. East Creek Campground is the listed campground, a good twenty miles away. No fee shown. Check current conditions with the Bristlecone Field Office.
USGS hasn't flown a detailed laser scan here yet, so this view comes from aerial photos and older elevation data.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 594 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 close to the US average of 65. It's higher than at 18% 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.
Overview Located high on the slopes of the Schell Creek Range in the Duck Creek Basin, sitting in the middle of an alder, pinyon and juniper forest, East Creek Campground offers a wide range of recreation opportunities to the forest visitor. Hiking, mountain biking and off-road vehicle riding are just some of the popular activities enjoyed by visitors to the area. Elevation is 7,400 feet, located approximately 20 miles from Ely, Nevada. Recreation The Ranger Trail can be accessed from thi...
Upper Shellbourne Spring sits at 6,800 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 27% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.