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

From Las Vegas, drive out to Ash Meadows National Wildlife. From the Refuge Office (Table 1, Site 691), drive out to the main refuge road. Turn right onto the main road and drive east. Follow the main road as it curves to the south and then back to the east. At a T-intersection about 2.3 miles out (with mailboxes and signs), continue straight 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.