Humboldt River
May 20, 2006
Provided and copyright by: Judy A Mosby
Summary authors & editors: Judy A Mosby
On February 11 of this year I had the shear delight of riding in a hot air balloon, giving me a birds' eye view of the Humboldt River Valley, near my home in Lovelock, Nevada. On this photo, we're looking north -- the snow-capped Humboldt Range is at top right and the highway is Interstate 80 (the arrow indicates about where I live).
Once you gain a bit of altitude, it's pretty easy to see how the Humboldt River snakes it's way along the Humboldt Valley. The Humboldt moves this way for close to 300 miles (480 km) after it leaves the Ruby Mountains to the east by Elko, Nevada. Since there has been abundant moisture in this area the past several months, the Humboldt is near bank level, but just 2-years ago, the river bed was dry, as a result of a prolonged drought. South of Lovelock, the Humboldt abruptly ends at what's called the Humboldt Sink. In many years, the River just disappears into this depression, however, this past winter and early spring there was plenty of water in the sink -- enough to even wash the dishes!
Photo details: Nikon E8800 camera, 0.004 sec (10/2771) exposure, f/7.6 aperature, 19.8 mm focal length, ISO Speed of 50, 7/10 EV exposure bias.
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