LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Owens Valley: Sierra Nevada
built 630 days ago
The Owens Valley is a giant lowland greeted by two unrelated mountain ranges - the Sierra Nevada's to the west and the Inyo mountains to the East. This is North-Central California; the Eastern rift that separates this state from Nevada. The Inyo mountains were the ancient Coastline of America. As the Atlantic tectonic plate pushed west, all of America was pushed west, created an uplift and a new coast.
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The Eastern Sierra Mountains, west of Owens Valley, are pock-marked with isolated stands of Aspens. Unlike the east coast with its continuous, undulating hills of green foliage married to a fall color bonanza, the terrain here is rocky mountainous with spots of green to break the style. The peaks here are upwards of 14,000 feet above sea level. And, that’s only significant in saying it’s really high to most flat-landers. Normally this isn’t a matter to focus on but when you’re hiking among the slopes shortness of breath becomes a factor. Not so much due to physical condition but more because the lack of oxygen at that altitude.
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Owens Valley is sort of like Mecca for mountain hang glider pilots. A hot desert valley with the Sierras to the West and the Whites to the East, each of which are over 14K in places. Some of the striking things about flying here is dressing for cold temps found at elevation when its over 100 degrees on the desert floor, flying with oxygen for when you start to get over 15,000 ft high, and feeling low in the mountains when you get down to 10,000 (because its a long glide out to the road which is at 4K). But the views while flying along the Sierras are spectacular, with huge granite spines and spires, patches of snow, and alpine lakes. Its an amazing way to see the always amazing high Sierra.
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Technically part of the Basin and Range but included here because the Owens Valley and Sierra Nevada are visible in the distance. The straight front of the foreground mountain range is a fault. The little playa lake is Deep Springs Lake.
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When it was “discovered” in 1845 by California pioneer John Fremont and his party, Owens Lake and the valley and mountains surrounding it was a prominent feature on the landscape of the eastern Sierra. Until the early part of the last century, the saline lake covered about 100 square miles and was as much as 30 feet deep in places. During 2000 and 2001, the LADWP built a network of pipes and irrigation “bubblers” (outlets) on 10 square miles of the lakebed. The network was expanded in 2002 and 2003. By the time the $415 million, L.A.–funded project is finished, the air should be safe to breathe year–round for the first time in over 70 years.
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The Owens Valley is the western margin of the Basin and Range Province, and from the east front of the Sierra Nevada all the way to Utah the terrain consists of alternating horsts and grabens. Many workers have suggested that uplift preceded faulting and that the crests of the ranges in the Basin and Range preserve a relic of a North American Altiplano.
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