Fish 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.
Fish Springs is a warm spring inside Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge in Millard County, a long fifty-six miles from Delta. The refuge is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the record marks access restricted. The temperature is warm, and the water is on the alkaline side with iron present. Expect refuge rules to govern what you can do.
Roadside inside the refuge, around 160 feet off the road. Remote desert country, middling elevation, with eight inches of rain in a normal year and light snow. No campground is on file within reach, and Delta is the closest town the record names. The land designation is National Wildlife Refuge.
Access is restricted; contact the refuge before assuming you can soak. Winter is the best season on record. Carry what you need; no camping is listed and the town is far. The 1990 sample shows iron and moderate dissolved solids. No fee is recorded. The refuge office is the place to get current rules.
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 Fish Springs.
- Setting
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 18 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the west
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 47% 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 Fish Springs is slightly alkaline (pH 8.2) with 1800 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).