Hot springs near Reno

A registered state historic landmark just south of Reno on the Steamboat geothermal field, this is a soak by appointment. Private indoor tub rooms are drained and refilled with untreated geothermal water for each guest, you set the temperature yourself, and behind the locked door clothing is optional. The outdoor tub holds five and needs a swimsuit. A 30-minute private bath is $30, and there are infrared saunas and a cold plunge too. Everything is by reservation, 10am to 8pm daily, and children under 12 aren't served, so this one is for the grown-ups.

Carson City's in-town soak: four outdoor mineral pools held at 98 to 104 degrees all year, nine private indoor pools, and nothing added to the water, no chemicals and no city supply. Adults pay $18 for two hours outdoors, with seniors and kids at $16; private rooms are $32 a person. Those rooms can't be reserved, so arrive early if you want one. It's open 8am to 9pm every day, and the restaurant and brewery on site settle the question of dinner.

In Genoa, Nevada's oldest town, at the foot of the Sierra, the historic mineral springs now sit inside a villa-style resort run by Holiday Inn Club Vacations. There are five hot-spring tubs at 98 to 104 degrees, one set aside for families with children under 18, plus a heated outdoor pool from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The springs are open 7am to 10pm daily. The catch for day-trippers is that no day-pass price is published, so phone the resort before you drive out. The 1862 Restaurant & Saloon handles the meal afterwards.

Do not get in. In June 2020 the BLM found E. coli, fecal coliforms and Vibrio cholerae in the water here and advised against bathing or any contact at all, and the state tourism agency repeats that advice. Trego is a long ditch-fed hot spring on the east side of the Black Rock playa near the Trego railroad siding, about 20 miles northeast of Gerlach along the railroad grade. It's listed so you know to drive past. If you came to the Black Rock to soak, Soldier Meadows to the north is where soaking is still allowed.

First, the water: the smaller, deeper pool is too hot to enter, and the larger shallow one is hot too, so treat this as a place to camp and look rather than a soak. It sits at the foot of the black rock landmark on the north edge of the playa, a stop on the Applegate emigrant trail, in about as dramatic a desert setting as Nevada offers. Getting there means crossing the playa, which must be bone dry; wet, it's impassable. Call Friends of Black Rock-High Rock on 775-625-7848 for conditions, and camp well back from the springs.

Look, don't touch. These deep, bubbling pools run at about 180 degrees, too hot to touch and dangerous to people and pets, which is why they're fenced and signed. Keep dogs leashed and well back. The reason to come is history, since these pools north of Black Rock Point look much as they did to emigrants bound for Oregon and California. Getting here means playa and dirt roads that are impassable when wet, so you'll want high clearance and a dry spell. Pair it with Black Rock Point on the same trip.

Classic Nevada: two metal cattle troughs, the so-called cowboy tubs, plus a soft-bottomed pool, out on public land southeast of Austin in the Big Smoky Valley. Pipes carry source water at around 130 degrees, and soakers divert the flow to set the temperature, so test with a hand before you climb in. It's free and reached by a graded dirt road off NV 376. There are no toilets, no drinking water and no services of any kind. Bring everything you need and carry everything out; the BLM runs volunteer cleanups here for a reason.

Sixty miles of dirt road north of Gerlach lead to a spread of hot and cold springs that are the only home of the desert dace, a threatened minnow. The area is protected for the fish and its cultural sites, and restoration work is improving their habitat while still allowing soaking, so tread lightly in and around the water. The BLM keeps a designated campground with accessible tent pads and a small public cabin, both first-come and free. Bring a high-clearance four-wheel-drive, skip the trip after rain when the roads turn impassable, and check the camping restrictions before you go.