Map coordinates:
38.9494, -115.701
Water temperature:
93.02°F
Site ID:
NV-352.1
Big Warm Spring on the Duckwater Shoshone Reservation. Image courtesy of Matt Bowers, Third Media.
Two main warm spring areas are located near the small community of Duckwater, which is on the Duckwater Indian Reservation in northeastern Nye County. Big Warm Spring or Duckwater Spring is located in Sec. 32, Tl3N, R56E and has a reported temperature of about 32.5°C (Eakin and others, 1951; Mifflin, 1968; Van Denburgh and Rush, 1974). Little Warm Spring, in Sec. 5, Tl2N, R54E, is about the same temperature. Both springs rise in alluvium a short distance west of a north-striking, range-bounding fault (Stewart and Carlson, 1974). The area may have been called the Burrell Hot Springs district in the past. The water is used locally.
A geothermal catfish-growing facility was operated at this site, on the Duckwater Indian Reservation, between 1982 and the early 1990s. When in operation, over 136,000 kg of prime 0.2 kg catfish filets per year were produced (Geo-Heat Center Quarterly Bulletin, December 1992).
[This spring is located on tribal land. Visitors should seek permission before planning a trip.]
Get Topo Map On the Web New Hotspring Search
All snakes can swim.... but not in scalding mineral water! This one suffered a rather quick fate and is now being calcified into the streambed. Traveling north towards Cherry Creek, Nevada, along the old shelf road on the west side of Steptoe Valley, Monte Neva Hot Springs bubbles up out of the ground at about 175°F. Image courtesy of Matt Bowers / Third Media.
The official event schedule for the 2025 NCKMS has now been updated. Please check our schedule page or download a PDF to your mobile device.
The National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) is a nexus of research, stewardship, outreach and information for caves and karst while fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, created by the US Congress in 1998 in partnership with the National Park Service, State of New Mexico, and the City of Carlsbad.
NCKRI is located in Carlsbad, NM, and is a research center of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Precipitation patterns are highly variable in Great Basin National Park. The wettest year on record at Lehman Caves was 21.2 inches of precipitation in 1982 and the driest year was 7.4 inches in 1953.
Troglodyte Playing Cards
We're not entirely sure what these will look like yet, but we couldn't think of hosting NCKMS in Nevada without offering some themed-out playing cards. There's a good chance the card backs will feature a cave critter of some kind, but we still have some time to figure it out.
