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Dianna’s
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During a marathon central Nevada trip, we visited Dianna’s, but only after having wisely camped in a deserted and spartan BLM campground at 7,400’ the night before with a storm coming in. After a night of freezing rain, hail, and whipping winds, we woke up with most of our gear soaked and quickly headed down the wet and snot-slippery dirt road so we could get the heater in the truck going ASAP.....but first I had to remedy an intermittent cooling problem in the truck by calling upon our blessed lady of the duct tape. It seems our fan clutch had mostly failed the day before. The fan roar was pretty impressive at the new 1:1 ratio but our cooling problems were solved for the rest of the trip!
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Dianna’s Punch Bowl is an amazing geologic feature in an isolated part of Nevada. A 100’ tall travertine mound rises out of the valley and contains a huge cauldron of steaming hot water.
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the sides of the pit are perfectly vertical and about 30’ tall. Any slip here and you’d be toast. (Or perhaps poached would be a better word.) My California-raised daughters were quick to notice the lack of a protective fence, something I explained by telling them that some states give their residents credit for having enough sense to take care of themselves!
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Behind Dianna’s a couple of hot sources feed a hot creek that runs for a couple hundred yards before disappearing into the surrounding cattle pasture. Farther from the source, the cooler the creek; you can pick your bathing temperature this way. I hopped in the creek at spot that was about 100 degrees but didn’t stay in long. The bottom of the creek is not only muddy, it’s coated with mats of multicolored thermophillic algae..and I really HATE icky algae mats! I hopped out so fast in fact, Jan didn’t have time to fire up the digital camera to capture me balanced on an underwater rock with my feet and arms sticking up so as not to touch the algae! :)
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Dianna’s is on private land, so if you do visit, leave all gates as you found them, pick up you’re own trash, don’t annoy the cows, and basically don’t do anything stupid. Some of us might like to come back here someday and would hate to find it posted “No Trespassing” in the future.
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Disclaimer: All photos on this site our property of offroadexplorers.com. Unauthorized use will cause us to employ our team of flesh-eating lawyers to sue your ass off. Off-Road and desert travel carries with it inherent risks. Pack plenty of water, spare gas and a lot of common sense. If you break down 75 miles from the nearest point of civilization, don’t come whining to us! Respect the roads and artifacts you might find off-road. Leave everything where you find it so your children and grandchildren might have something to see in the future. Above all, tread lightly & pack out your own frigging trash.
No electrons were harmed in the making of this website; only cruelty-free voltages are used in maintaining this site
which is guranteed to be low-carb, fat-free, phosphate free, and 100% American Made.
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