Description

Devil's Hole is a deep hole in the ground on the side of a dry, rocky hill sparsely vegetated with creosote bush, white bursage, and few other plants. The spring in the bottom of the hole has no outflow stream. Desert birds come in for water, and the pool serves as the only habitat for the Devil's Hole Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis).

Devil's Hole, itself, is closed to the public, but there is a catwalk enclosed in a wire cage where birders can walk out and look down into the pit. With binoculars or a spotting scope, look for pupfish and the birds that come to drink.

Location

Devil's Hole is located on the Ash Meadows National Wildlife, about 2 hours northwest of Las Vegas.

From Las Vegas, drive out to Ash Meadows Visitor Center. From the Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 1588), drive east on Spring Meadows Road to a T-intersection with Ash Meadows Road about 2.3 miles out. At the T-intersection, continue straight onto Devils Hole Road and follow the road for another 1.3 miles as it curves back to the north. When the road starts up into a little valley, watch for a chain-link fence capped with razor-wire on a hillside to the left (west) of the road.

Hours

The refuge is day-use only: open sunrise to sunset.

Fees

None.

Specialties

Devil's Hole is not the best place to bird, but you can find hard-core desert species here. The thing to see here is the Devil's Hole pupfish. This Pleistocene relict lives only in this little hole in the ground and nowhere else on earth. This fish has the smallest geographic range of any vertebrate.