Lakes in the Desert?

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First Friday! Or something. We explored Lake Mead today. Interesting to say the least. Lake Mead was formed by Hoover Dam, which is itself approximately 700 feet tall. Read: the dam backed up enough water to make a big, big lake. We stopped at Calville Point and Echo Bay. Calville Point was by far the most interesting. The first thing I noticed there was that the water is down about 70 down from its normal level. That does make sense though, considering that this is the fifth year of a decent drought out here. But the really interesting part of Calville Point is that it was named after a little town that used to exist before the dam created the lake. Originally the town was supposed to be a shipping and freighting town, but with the creation of the transcontinental railroad, that purpose was lost. It became a ghost town, and then it became lake bottom.

There were a ton of house boats sitting around the docks. I wonder what it’d be like to live on one. At Lake Mead it would probably be doable, but I think that they would be much more to look at if you had a boat on the ocean. Oh well.

After that, we drove through the Redstone Dunes (in the Valley of Fire). I love the names around here. Anyway, the dunes are rock now, but before their transformation back in the day, they were sand dunes. I was really surprised to learn that!! They’re quite a vibrant shade of red, which kind of reinforced the heat for me for a second. Before that, I had looked at the thermometer today and thought: “Oh, it’s only 100 degrees. Good weather.”

There’s an interesting juxtaposition between the desert ecosystem (and sparcity of water) and the massive expansion of Las Vegas. I’m a nature person—I don’t know how I feel about it. But it’s thought provoking. Someday I’ll get an opinion. For now, going to bed is enough.

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Photos

Anchors!
This was taken at Lake Mead. You can see how far away the lake looks in the picture as compared to the blocky things next to the sidewalk. The blocky things are anchors. They used to secure the docks up about 70 feet higher than they are now. How sad.

"Sand" Dunes?
This was probably somewhere in the Valley of Fire, but I've forgotten. Maybe one of the sand-dunes-turned-rock formations.