Geological Time, p. 23
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We took this route for its variety and because we wished to visit Double Hot Springs, an historic thermal feature at the edge of the Playa.

We thought we were lost until we rounded a bend and saw a BLM sign pointing to the hot springs up ahead. Over the hill from the twin springs was a hot-creek fed tub, just large enough for the two of us to soak our flat-tire troubles away.


Drag to see the thermal stream which fills this tub.

The Double Hot Springs are mentioned in journals left behind by the ’49ers; an entry from one is duplicated on a signpost.

The twin springs provided a welcome source of water for the emigrants. But the “Double” in their name could also refer to them being doubly hot, much too hot for bathing. They certainly do present a beckoning sight to the desert-baked traveler. Sunlight refracting through the clear water makes the rocks and alkali deposits underneath look as jewel-like as an inviting coral reef.
Another pioneer’s journal laments a pet dog that was boiled to death when it leapt into one of the ponds. This tragedy was repeated in spades a few years ago (November, 2000) when a visiting couple with two dogs came to visit the springs. The dogs spied the inviting water and bounded in. They immediately began to howl in pain. Without thinking, the woman jumped in to save her pets. Her partner leaped in to save her. He escaped with second- and third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body. She died a week later. The dogs perished on the spot.

Double Hot Springs

These thermal springs, in their world of geological time, remain as hot today as they were for the first Nevada pioneers in the last century, and for the natives who originally came upon this ethereal landscape thousands of years ago. Until the mountains decide otherwise, they will continue to boil and steam into the desert air.

 
   
 
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