Black Rock Desert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Black Rock Desert | |
| Desert | |
 |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Nevada |
| Part of | Great Basin |
| Location | lakebed/playa |
| - elevation | 3,848 ft (1,173 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Basin | 11,600 sq mi (30,044 km²) |
| Area | 1,000 sq mi (2,590 km²) |
| For public | Federal lands (including the playa) are open to the public with regulatory restrictions. Some private lands are in the region and are closed to the public. |
| Easiest access | Nevada State Route 447 |
| Timezone | Pacific (UTC-8) |
| - summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
  location of Black Rock Desert in Nevada
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The Black Rock Desert is a dry lake bed in northwestern Nevada in the United States. The desert is part of the extended playa of the lake bed of prehistoric Lake Lahontan, which existed between 18,000 and 7,000 BC during the last ice age. During the lake's peak around 12,700 years ago, the desert floor was under approximately 500 feet (150m) of water.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
The desert extends for approximately 100 miles (160km) northeast from the towns of Gerlach and Empire, between the Jackson Mountains to the east and the Calico Mountains to the west. The Black Rock Desert is separated into two arms by the Black Rock Range. It lies at an elevation of 3848 feet (1172 metres)[1] and has an area of about 1,000 square miles (2,600 km²).[2]
There are several possible definitions of the extent of the Black Rock Desert. Often people refer just to the playa surface. Sometimes terrain which can be seen from the playa is included. The widest definition of the Black Rock Desert region is the watershed of the basin that drains into the playa. The intermittent Quinn River is the largest river in the region, starting in the Santa Rosa Range and ending in the Quinn River Sink on the playa south of the Black Rock Range. The watershed covers 11,600 square miles[3] including the Upper and Lower Quinn River, Smoke Creek Desert, Massacre Lake, and Thousand Creek[4]/Virgin Valley[5] watersheds of northwestern Nevada as well as small parts across the borders of California and Oregon.
Humboldt, Pershing and Washoe Counties of Nevada intersect at the Black Rock Desert.
[edit] History
In the mid-1800s, particularly during the California Gold Rush, the Applegate-Lassen Cut-Off of the California Trail left the main route of that Trail near present-day Rye Patch Reservoir, and crossed the Black Rock Desert, on the way to Goose Lake in northeast California, and the California gold fields. The explorers who mapped the routes through the area and the emigrants who followed them named the Black Rock Desert for a prominent point near a spring along the route now known as Black Rock Point. It is still often called simply "the Black Rock".
[edit] Use
The Sulphur mining district on the east side of the desert has been mined since the late 1800s. Sulfur, mercury, alunite, silver and gold have been mined there.[6] An opal mine is in the base of the Calico Mountains on the west side of the desert.[7]
The flatness of the surface has led to its use as a proving ground for experimental land vehicles. It was the site of the most recent successful attempts on the World Land Speed Record. In 1983, Richard Noble drove the jet-powered Thrust2 car to a new record of 633 miles per hour. Noble also headed up the team that beat the Thrust 2 record. In 1997, ThrustSSC became the world's first and only supersonic car, reaching 763+ mph.[8]
The area is also used by several prefectures (regional chapters) of the Tripoli Rocketry Association. The Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific (AeroPAC) hosts "MudRock" in June, "Aeronaut" in late July/early August, and "eXtreme Performance Rocket Ships (XPRS)" in September.[9] The Arizona High Power Rocketry Association (AHPRA) hosts "BALLS" in September. It is a significant launch site for high power and amateur rocket hobbyists. When any of these organizations refer to maximum altitudes for their "waivers", they are talking about approval to use the airspace which they have obtained from the FAA. The allowed ceiling in these FAA waivers is commonly up to 100,000 feet, and can be expected to grow higher following the capabilities of hobby rocketry technology.
The following are highlights of the high-power and amateur rocketry records[10] set at Black Rock:
- On November 23, 1996, the Reaction Research Society launched a rocket to 50 miles in altitude, a significant leap in amateur rocket altitude records at the time.
- On May 17, 2004 the Civilian Space eXploration Team launched a rocket to 72 miles in altitude, which was the first amateur rocket to exceed the 62-mile Karman Line required to claim a space flight.
Land sailing also occurs in the area[11].
Another recurring recreational activity is rockhounding. BLM places regulatory limits on quantities of rocks which may be removed per person per day from public lands that it manages.
Black Rock has become famous as the site of the annual Burning Man festival. It is the largest event which occurs there.
[edit] Hazards
The Black Rock Desert region has vast areas of land where travelers who experience a breakdown might not be found by others. The ease with which a visitor can drive onto the playa allows newcomers to take risks that they may not realize. Some web sites about the area have suggestions about preparation and survival.[12][13] These and other sites have in common the usual desert travel advice to carry enough water, let people know where you plan to go and bring enough supplies to wait for a potential rescue if needed. In general, they advise taking the dangers seriously and giving some thought to survival skills.
[edit] Federal lands
The Bureau of Land Management manages the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and the following 10 wilderness areas in the Black Rock Desert region. [14]
- Black Rock Desert Wilderness
- Calico Mountains Wilderness
- East Fork High Rock Canyon Wilderness
- High Rock Canyon Wilderness
- High Rock Lake Wilderness
- Little High Rock Canyon Wilderness
- North Black Rock Range Wilderness
- North Jackson Mountains Wilderness
- Pahute Peak Wilderness
- South Jackson Mountains Wilderness
[edit] Hot springs
Among many recreational activities at Black Rock, some people like to visit hot springs. BLM distributes pamphlets and even has billboards on Interstate 80 saying "Hot springs on public lands - stay out and stay alive!" They describe reasons in their press release, "Hot springs on public lands: unique habitats for native species but hazardous for people". An obvious question is what makes them different because they're on public lands. BLM's "stay out and stay alive" campaign was the result of a lawsuit filed against it by the family of a woman who died in 2000 at Double Hot Springs. She fell in the 200 degree Fahrenheit water trying to save her dog that had jumped in.[15]
These are the best known hot springs in the region.
- Black Rock
- Trego / Butte
- Double Hot
[edit] Fly Geyser
At Fly Ranch, the Fly Geyser is one of two geysers at the ranch - the other being dormant, possibly because of the upheaval of the second geyser. The Fly Geyser continuously sprays hot water onto what was once desert land. This hot spring fountain is probably a leaking geothermal test well.[16] Fly Ranch is private property which does not currently allow visitors.
[edit] Photo gallery
 Thrust SSC team after successful world land speed record, November 1997. Photo by Andrew Graves |
 Black Rock Desert playa. |
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 Black Rock Point with inferior mirage in foreground on June 19, 2004. Photo by Ian Kluft |
 Two high-power rockets lift off at Black Rock carrying university research projects from Japan on Sep 24, 2004 Photo by Ian Kluft |
 "Welcome to Nowhere" sign in Empire, Nevada on September 26, 2006. Photo by Steve Jurvetson |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Black Rock Desert Larry Turner
- ^ Wright, John W. (ed.); Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The New York Times Almanac, 2007, New York, New York: Penguin Books, 456. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.
- ^ Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units, United States Geological Survey, April 2, 2007, <http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/huc_name.html>. Retrieved on 11 January 2008
- ^ Thousand Creek. Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ Virgin Valley. Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ Mine Development Associates (January 2006). Technical Report, Vista Gold Corp, Hycroft Mine (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
- ^ Little Joe opal mine (Black Rock mine; Little Jo mine), Donnelly District, Humboldt Co., Nevada, USA. mindat.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
- ^ Land speed record
- ^ Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific (January 2007). AeroPAC Schedule (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
- ^ Lindsey, Clark, HobbySpace.com - Advanced Rocketry: Records, Achievements & Competitions, <http://www.hobbyspace.com/Rocketry/Advanced/records.html>. Retrieved on 6 January 2008
- ^ Starrs, Paul F.; Peter Goin (September 2005). Black Rock. University of Nevada Press, 85,234. ISBN 0874175917.
- ^ BLM (2007-04-27), Desert Survival Tips, <http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/surprise/rttips.html>. Retrieved on 8 January 2008
- ^ Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team, How to avoid needing a rescue at Black Rock, <http://www.stratofox.org/blackrock/anr.html>. Retrieved on 8 January 2008
- ^ Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Fact Sheet. Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Vanderhoff, Mark (08-21-2002), "Warning: Wilderness - Hot springs lawsuit highlights dilemma of the wild", Reno Gazette-Journal, <http://www.rgj.com/news/printstory.php?id=22036>
- ^ DeLong, Jeff. "Fly Geyser: an arresting desert landmark", Reno Gazette-Journal, 2001-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
[edit] External links
- Regulatory
- Regional info
- Friends of Black Rock High Rock - Information about Black Rock Desert region conservation projects, current conditions, events, maps, and more.
- Ian Kluft's Black Rock page - overview, safety info, photos and links oriented toward rocketry at Black Rock
- Amateur Radio Band Plan for Black Rock Desert - coordination of radio frequency usage among licensed Amateur Radio operators
- Rocketry
- Fly Geyser
