On goals on this leg of our jaunt in the desert include the desert hot springs of this valley, and those beyond the mountains in the Monitor Valley to the east. After six miles or so of driving on FR 100, we turned off to visit the Spencer Hot Springs.
You can see the source pool in the background.
These springs, long-ago a commercial enterprise, are actually a series of pools, with each one conveniently separated by enough landscape to provide privacy. Probably the best soak was in a large metal tub, but it was occupied by a couple who looked like they were having way too much fun for company at the moment. So we found a different pond, a stone-lined pool on a rise with a commanding view of the Big Smokey Valley, the Toiyabe Range to the west and the Toquima Range to the east.
This particular pool was a bit too hot for me; I had to lower myself into its 107° water with caution. But once acclimated I enjoyed the incongruous panorama of hot water foreground and snow-capped background.
Our pool sits just below the source of the spring, which fills the pool from a short length of pipe. At the bubbling source, a shallow cauldron of 140° water, the BLM has erected the standard sign. Its understated warning reads “Water from natural springs may be scalding.”
You might think that, given the long history of humankind and hot springs, the folks inclined to jump into hot ponds without first checking the temperature would’ve been taken out of the thermal pool, not to mention the gene pool, by natural selection. But apparently the BLM doesn’t share my confidence in evolution.
After a good long emersion in the hot Spencer pool, we continued on FR 100 the entire stretch of the Big Smokey Valley into the mountains of the Toquima Range beyond. The road led us up into the tree line and then beyond through slippery, rutted foot-deep snow on the narrow no-guardrail trek through the pass close to the 7,009 foot peak. Unfortunately I have no photographs of this segment of the trip. Judy is a confident and careful driver of her 4Runner, and the fact that I couldn’t unclench my hands from the edge of the seat long enough to take a photograph should not be taken as any comment upon her driving skills.