Hassayampa

A couple days ago I visited the Hassayampa River Preserve, run by the Nature Conservancy near Wickenburg. The Hassayampa is not your conventional river; for most of its length, most of the year, it runs underground. However, in the preserve it is a real stream...not much of a river, really, as this pic shows; it's only about 10 feet wide. This is due to a shallow bedrock layer that prohibits the water from sinking into the ground. Five miles upstream from this point, the river is usually dry on the surface; five miles downstream, the same. This changes during the summer monsoon; I remember a professor in college recounting a time when one day, the Hassayampa in Wickenburg was dry; the next day, it was a quarter mile wide and six feet deep!

The preserve is located on an old ranch, and the ranch house is used as the preserve headquarters. Many years ago, desert fan palms were planted, and have proliferated. These trees are not native to the immediate vicinity, but are found in oases at various places in southern California and southwestern Arizona. There's a pond here, and the water makes the preserve a major wildlife haven. It's a nice spot to spend a few hours.

Just threw this pic in...a railroad runs thru the eastern part of the preserve.