2008
Field Trip
Part 3 Willow Creek near Cold Creek Village on the north-eastern flank of the Spring Range
First we will get our bearings and look at Cold Creek village and its backdrops and views (and wild horses):
The wild horses were very friendly,
To the southeast lies the Sheep Range. The Sheep Range and the Spring Range both have much more rain and snowfall than the surrounding deserts, and the water that soaks into these ranges makes up an underground "water mound" that surrounds each range. Where the Sheep Range and Spring Range water mounds meet, there is a high point (the groundwater comes closer to the surface) and there the waters divide. From this water-divide, underground water moves either south to Las Vegas or northward (and then westward) to Death Valley. This is despite the fact that the surface in the photo below tilts down to the south. If there is a big enough storm to cause a flash-flood on the surface, it would move southward here, while its deeper reaches would change direction and go north and then west around the curve where we stopped to look at rocks in Part 2. Note that this next photo, in order to show the Sheep Range better on its far right, was taken on the way back down into the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone where US 95 runs (see Part 1):
Why is all this water-mound stuff important? Because by sending water north, then west, it ends up coming out at Ash Meadows and Devils Hole! There may be some contribution into that discharge area from the Pahrump Fault sending water north from the Pahrump Valley as well. The Ash Meadows area has a lot of water coming to the surface and continuing on beneath it, into the springs at Death Valley!
But let's get back up where there are trees and flowers and look at the streams and springs that make Cold Creek Village so attractive. Water from springs runs through waterways that trend to the north: we are as much on a north as on an east flank of the Spring Range here:
Somewhere in these trees runs a creek called Willow Creek. To get there we will follow the road that runs to Wheeler Pass visible in the next photo:
Now it is time for Willow Creek. We will not say much as we show you a short part of its course, and as we move up some vistas of the Spring Range show the snowier parts of the range face to the north and east:
As we move up alongside the creek, there is less water, suggesting there are springs along the way. This tree is a high as I went for this field trip, and it adjoined another, very large tree, and gave me some light to play with as well:
Leaving this area gave a shot at looking back at this large tree from a higher vantage point:
Very near the creek these Indian Paintbrush looked healthy,
And on some purple flowers, a hummingbird moth (a Sphinx moth) was doing its nectar collecting business:
Next we travel to the mouth of Wheeler Pass where we pick up this same creek and see one of its contributing springs.
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