Diana's Punch Bowl

A travertine bowl some 40 ft deep and 70 ft across holds a hot pool out in the middle of a remote Nevada valley.

Diana's Punch Bowl is a spectacular hot pool in a large travertine basin out in the middle of Monitor Valley, northern Nye County, Nevada, USA. Anywhere else this would be a park, with entrance fees, interpretive stations, and crowds; here it's just out in the open land, only shut off by a barbed wire fence! (The feature does lie on private land, however; please help preserve access by treating the area with respect.)
Quoted values of the pool temperature range from about 140 to 180 F (~60-82.2 C); not boiling, but plenty hot enough to scald quickly. Do not attempt to access, much less swim in this pool! The pool does support thermophilic algae, however.
No one seems to know who "Diana" was. Perhaps the name was given by some early settler with a taste for the classics. The Roman goddess, as part of being the goddess of wilderness, was associated with springs in general, so that may be the connection. The feature is also called "Devil's" Punchbowl or Devil's Cauldron, which is more understandable if a lot more generic.

Getting there

From US-50, turn south on Belmont Road (BLM 425, Monitor Valley Rd), a graded dirt road that should be passable to ordinary passenger cars in dry weather. This turnoff is about 12.6 miles east of Hickison Summit, at 39.494474 N, 116.523216 W. Proceed 33.8 miles from the turnoff to a primitive dirt road coming in from the left (39.038923 N, 116.685973 W). Diana's Punch Bowl is visible out in the middle of the valley as a low gray mound, about 1.3 miles down this road. High clearance is advisable when attempting this access road!

A travertine bowl some 40 ft deep and 70 ft across holds a hot pool out in the middle of a remote Nevada valley.

Diana's Punch Bowl is a spectacular hot pool in a large travertine basin out in the middle of Monitor Valley, northern Nye County, Nevada, USA. Anywhere else this would be a park, with entrance fees, interpretive stations, and crowds; here it's just out in the open land, only shut o…  (read more)

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