Warm Springs is located at the intersection of US-6 between Tonopah and Ely and Hwy 375. This is the northern end of the Extraterrestrial Highway, about 59 miles northwest of Rachel. A natural hot spring provides abundant water, supporting an oasis of green in the otherwise very dry desert. There are a handful of abandoned buildings near the intersection.

The hot spring is located on the hillside, about 1000 feet from the highway. The water is very hot, almost boiling. It flows down in a manmade channel to a small swimming pool with a bathhouse. By the time it reaches the pool it has a very comfortable temperature. Unfortunately the pool and the hot spring are on private property and are fenced off.

Next to the pool is the Warm Springs Bar and Cafe, an abandoned roadside restaurant from the 1970's. Both the pool and the restaurant belong to the Fallini family, the owners of a nearby ranch at Twin Springs.

There are also a few larger stone cabins and a stone corral nearby. Reminders of the days when Warm Springs was a major stagecoach stop on the road to Tonopah, which was a mining boomtown in the early 1900's. The buildings are visible from the highway but are also on private property and fenced off.

A second mining boom in Tonopah in 1979 brought new business to the new Warm Springs Bar and Cafe. The pool and bathhouse were built next door, and in the early 1980's travelers and miners could buy a bath in the naturally heated pool for a dollar. Later, when the mining boom was over and after disagreements with the operator, the Fallinis decided to close it down for good.

Warm Springs is a great spot for a rest stop. That is, as long as you don't expect any facilities. There is spotty cell phone service, but since the cell tower is on a hill above Warm Springs coverage at the intersection itself is poor at best.

The rocky hillside in the west, above the spring, is a very popular hangout for mountain sheep. They blend in very well with the rocks. But with binoculars you will soon spot one, then another... and before you know it you lose count.

Directions

From Rachel turn left onto Hwy 375 north. Follow it for about 59 miles. Warm Springs is located at the T-intersection of the E.T. Highway with US-6 from Tonopah to Ely. Suitable for all cars.

GPS Coordinates

The abandoned Warm Springs Bar and Cafe [08/24/2018]

Remains of a stone cabin and the stone corral of the former stagecoach stop from the early 1900's [08/24/2018]

There are a few stone cabins on the hillside west of the Warm Springs intersection. The buildings were probably part of the stagecoach stop [08/24/2018]

Corrugated metal building near the corral [08/24/2018]

Looking down at the Warm Springs intersection from the hot spring [08/24/2018]

The Warm Springs intersection seen from the hot spring. In the foreground US-6 between Ely (left) and Tonopah (right). The E.T. Highway (Hwy 375) leads to Rachel, past the mountain range in the background. The abandoned Warm Springs Bar and Cafe is right across the street from the intersection, and the pool is next to the smaller brown building on the right.
The dirt road that intersects with the E.T. Highway by the group of trees in the background leads south for about 36 miles through Reveille Valley to the abandoned Cedar Pipeline Ranch. It is an interesting back road, but rough in parts and requires 4WD. [June 1999]

More recent aerial view of the Warm Springs intersection [08/24/2018]

In the early evenings Mountain Sheep can often be seen in the rocks above Warm Springs [08/24/2018]