A month later we decided to seek out the hot springs in the most remote part of the state, the area in Nevada’s northwest from Gerlach to just below the Oregon border. For our “all hot springs all the time” spring break we spent our first night camping next to the Trego Ditch, east of Empire on the southern shoulder of the Black Rock Desert. This linear pond, perhaps 30 yards long and ten feet wide, has a muddy bottom.

Walking through its primordial ooze the soaker’s feet release pockets of hot bubbles from the thermal source. From one end to the other the Trego Ditch typifies a complex thermal ecosystem. At the source, its heat is much too hot for bathing; at the other end the cooling water has formed a narrow reedy marsh, a linear wetland oasis replete with nesting birds and peeping amphibians.

There is another life form which may be sharing the water of the hot spring. It is not a pretty picture, but if you’re interested you can click here to see it.