Winnemucca Lake, Nevada

The dried remains of Winnemucca Lake

Tufa structures: Created by fresh water springs and high concentrations of dissolved calcium ions in the subsurface lake waters. The huge amounts of calcite form around the spring orifices. These are the same structures also found at Mono Lake.

Dry Lakebed

tufa

Where there was once water, there were also humans. Arrowhead and flint remnants, perhaps thousands of years old. Moosie and I left any artifacts where we found them. 

old snail shell.

Camping on the ancient dry lakebed

 Continuation of a trip to the Sierra Nevada, and Lake Winnemucca back in August:

After Camo, Moosie, and I returned to Nevada after our trip to the Sierra, Camo had to fly home. Moosie and I had a couple days before I had to fly back, so Moosie suggested a trip to Winnemucca Lake in Nevada. In turned out to be a fascinating, fascinating mini trip where we learned a little about geology and ancient Native Americans. In fact, our visit to Mono Lake on the way home from the Sierra a couple days prior offered a bit of foreshadowing. It was our first exposure to a geological formation called tufus, the calcite formations that make the lake visually famous. Tufus form from little holes in the lake bottom that emit fresh spring water. The spring water mixes with high concentrations of calcium ions in the lake which then slowly forms the calcite structures. They can take hundreds, and thousands of years to form. Once the lake's water level recedes, the calcite structures reveal themselves after growing under water for so long. In a place like Winnemucca Lake, since the lake is no longer there, the tufus stick out like sore thumbs around the dry lake bottom. 

To the casual observer, Nevada can look like a desert wasteland. It's hard to believe there were once many ancient lakes dotting the state. Moosie and I enjoyed the exercise of imagining what a place like Winnemucca Lake once looked like. The surrounding mountains have fading rings on them, bathtub rings. It can seem unbelievable that the place was once filled with water and people living there, but the evidence is all there. It was fun to imagine what a typical day for the people must have been like, fishing along the ancient lake. At one point, thousands of years ago, the lake was connected to a series of nearby lakes all flowing and feeding into one another. The lake was considered a shallow lake all the way until 1930, when a dam and road were constructed that restricted the remaining water flow, finally ending the lake's lifespan. 

Moosie and I took a dirt road into the lakebed to camp beside an ancient tufu formation for the night. Desert camping is the best. Views as far as you can see, dry air. We simply rolled our sleeping bags and pads out onto the sand. For some reason I can't explain, I didn't like camping near the tufu, and didn't like looking at it at night. There's no rhyme or reason why some places are more inviting than others.