Quinn River Hot Springs

Quinn River Hot Springs in the high desert of northern Nevada emerge from the geology of the Basin and Range province — the great extensional landscape of faulted mountains and flat basins that characterises the American Great Basin — in one of the most remote and undeveloped regions of the continental United States. The bicarbonate springs flow at temperatures comfortable for soaking in a stark desert environment of sagebrush flats, basalt formations and wide Nevada sky, with no facilities beyond the natural spring itself and the dramatic landscape that surrounds it. Access requires a significant drive on unpaved roads through public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and the reward is a completely primitive hot spring experience in genuine desert wilderness. The broader Quinn River basin, with its pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and the migratory raptors of the Great Basin flyway, adds wildlife interest to this austere but compelling desert thermal experience.