STOP 3: WELLS INVESTIGATING THE UNDERGROUND FLOW OF WATER FROM AMARGOSA VALLEY INTO DEATH VALLEY, FLOW THAT GOES UNDERNEATH THE FUNERAL RANGE
OK, here we have another opportunity to orient you with a photo from a commercial airliner: at the bottom is Crystal Reservoir, part of Ash Meadows, Site Three is in front of a mountain, and Franklin Lake Playa lies at the foot of Eagle Mountain at the top left. We will see these sights from Site Three (to the extent that we can do so, that is).
We already covered the subject of how water could possibly flow uphill. It can't. But the broken roots of the Funeral Range apparently allow some water through them, flowing ever downward, until it comes out in springs like the Texas, Nevares, and Travertine Springs in the valley. That is the hypothesis, and two brand new wells are investigating it. We only visit one, this one:
It says it is the property of Inyo County, California.
Inyo County is rightly trying to get its arms around its water supply, and the Amargosa Valley is one source.
Water comes into the Amargosa Valley from three directions; the first, to the north is the Amargosa River (which we have visited many times on this site). Here you see the trace of the river, standing by the well pictured above, outlined by vegetation:
A second, lesser source is the Fortymile Wash (visible? not really, but it is the valley you can discern that is located to the left of the colorful rock on the horizon that sits above the four shiny metal roofs, in the above photo).
The third and largest (I think) source is the Ash Meadows discharge area, (its large reservoir showed up in the aerial photo we started this page with). The green area up against the first set of hills in the photo below is the Ash Meadows area, where underground water from the Spring Range (the range in the background of the photo below) comes to the surface in numerous springs (we visited Ash Meadows as part of the Devils Hole workshop last year --after all, that is where Devils Hole is).
The crown jewel of the Spring Range is Mount Charleston, not quite 12,000 feet above mean sea level:
Water generally flows south here. All of it if one is speaking of one of the rare surface-flow events we saw this Spring. Most of it when it is underground flow. Perhaps much more than 90 percent of the underground flow surfaces in Franklin Lake Playa in front of Eagle Mountain, also visible from this well site (and in the photo that started this page):
Speaking of the photo that started this page, it showed the well site we are visiting to be next to a mountain, an outlier from the Funeral Range. Here it is, and we will visit its other side on the next page:
Of course water is probably smart enough to not flow through the roots of the nearest mountain when there is a flatter area available. Here is where the flow probably approaches, and dives under, the Funeral Range proper:
A pretty formidable obstacle for a human, but a drop of water has its ways . . .
Some of us wondered where the road from the well toward the Funeral Range went. So we drove it a little ways up and stopped where it really degraded into a rut, rather than a road. At that point we were at a mine. We will see it on the next page.
Go to Stop 4: the Hectorite Mine uphill from Stop 3
Go back to Nevares Springs, Stop # 1
Go back to road from Stop 1 to Stop 2
Go back to Stop 2: National Park Service Travertine Wells
Go back to the first page that shows the road from Stop 2 to Stop 3 (California 190)
Go back to the page that shows more of the road from Stop 2 to Stop 3 (California 190)
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