Photo by Solvej Nielsen on Pexels
🇺🇸 USA · Nevada
♨ Temperature
42°C
⛰ Altitude
1554 m
⚗ pH
8.1
💧 TDS
260 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
6 L/s
📅 Established
Natural
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
Spencer Hot Springs sits on BLM public land in the vast Basin and Range country of central Nevada, approximately 20 kilometres from the small town of Austin. Several naturally formed pools collect water at temperatures ranging from 38 to 55°C, and a steel trough has been added to allow more comfortable soaking. The site is free and open year-round, with camping permitted nearby. The wide-open Great Basin sky — especially at night — makes Spencer a destination not just for the waters but for the extraordinary darkness and stargazing conditions of the Nevada desert.
| Silica | 95 mg/L |
| Sodium | 98 mg/L |
| Fluoride | 3.2 mg/L |
| Bicarbonate | 185 mg/L |
The Great Basin hot springs were known to Northern Paiute and Shoshone peoples long before European settlement. Spencer's thermal source has been used informally since the late 19th century when ranchers and prospectors passed through central Nevada.
Spencer Hot Springs represents the American backcountry hot spring tradition — informal, free, and accessed by dirt road through open range. It sits within the broader Great Basin landscape, one of the largest desert regions in North America, where geothermal activity surfaces across thousands of square kilometres.
The BLM manages Spencer under Leave No Trace principles, with fire restrictions and pack-out-your-trash policies. The surrounding sagebrush steppe ecosystem is fragile and hosts a range of endemic Great Basin wildlife.
Websitewww.blm.gov/nevada
AddressSpencer Hot Springs, Lander County, Nevada, USA