The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe ecoregion) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt playa 100 miles (160 km) north of Reno, Nevada that encompasses more than 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) of land and contains more than 120 miles (200 km) of historic trails. It is in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan.
The Great Basin, named for the geography in which water is unable to flow out and remains in the basin, is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes. The average annual precipitation (in the years 1971–2000) at Gerlach, Nevada (extreme south-west of the desert) is 7.90 inches (200 mm).
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The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe ecoregion) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt playa 100 miles (160 km) north of Reno, Nevada that encompasses more than 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) of land and contains more than 120 miles (200 km) of historic trails. It is in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan.
The Great Basin, named for the geography in which water is unable to flow out and remains in the basin, is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes. The average annual precipitation (in the years 1971–2000) at Gerlach, Nevada (extreme south-west of the desert) is 7.90 inches (200 mm).
The region is notable for its paleogeologic features, as an area of 19th-century Emigrant Trails to California, as a venue for rocketry, and as an alternative to the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah, for setting land speed records (Mach 1.02 in 1997). It is also the location for the annual Burning Man event.
The Black Rock Desert is part of the National Conservation Area (NCA), a unit of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS). The NCA is located in northwest Nevada and was established by legislation in 2000. It is a unique combination of the desert playa, narrow canyons, and mountainous areas.
Humans have been in Black Rock Desert since approximately 10,000 B.P. Around 1300 AD the area was settled by the Paiute people. The large black rock formation was used as a landmark by the Paiute, and later emigrants crossing the area. The landmark is a conical outcrop composed of interbedded Permian marine limestone and volcanic rocks. At its base is a large hot spring and grassy meadow, which was an important place for those crossing the desert headed for California and Oregon. In 1843, John Fremont and his party were the first white men to cross the desert, and his trail was used by over half the 22,000 gold seekers headed to California after 1849. In 1867, Hardin City, a short-lived silver mill town was established (now a ghost town).
More than ~15,000 years ago (15 tya), the Humboldt River flowed to the Smoke Creek-Black Rock Desert sub-basin, and during the recession of Lake Lahontan, the river diverted to the Carson Desert sub-basin.[1] During the highest Lahontan water level (~12.7 kya), the lakebed was under about 500 ft (150 m) of water,[2][3] under which sediment accumulated to form a flat lakebed.
Great Basin tribes inhabited the area approximately 10,000 B.P.,[4] and a Frémont Expedition encountered the site in 1843, but the Fortieth Parallel Survey (1867) conducted the first official exploration.[5] In the late 1840s, Peter Lassen led California Trail emigrants through the desert's Applegate-Lassen Cutoff, an arduous route that took them hundreds of miles away from the gold lands of California. By 1910, Western Pacific's Feather River Route (Oakland-Salt Lake City) had been completed across the east side of the lakebed on the "general route first explored by Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith in 1854".[6] By 1927, the desert had been used for filming The Winning of Barbara Worth (the 2003 Mythbusters pilot episode was also filmed in the area).
In World War II, 973 sq mi (2,520 km2) of the Black Rock Desert was used for a USAAF aerial gunnery training range, and post-war, the north region of the United States Navy's Lovelock Aerial Gunnery Range was in the Black Rock Desert area[7] (the Black Rock Desert Gunnery Range had closed by 1964).[8] In 1979, a fossilized Columbian Mammoth was found along the side of the lakebed.[9]
The Dooby Lane art installation was created by DeWayne "Doobie" Williams between 1978 and 1992. Guru Road, located about 2 miles north of Gerlach on Highway 34, consists of a series of art installations that include aphorisms and the names of local residents carved in to rocks. Larger installations such as "Ground Zero", Elvis, Imagination Station – Desert Broadcasting System (where the windows are TV frames with different panoramas) are also present.[10][11]
The first "Balls" rocket event was held at the desert in 1993,[12] and in 1998, the first annual Gerlach Dash glider race from Reno to the desert was held.[13] For its 30th anniversary, the Black Rock Press (University of Nevada, Reno) published a 1994 book of desert photographs.[14] The Friends of the Black Rock/High Rock organized in 1999,[15] and a National Conservation Area Act the next year created several protected areas of the desert.[16]: a Also in 2000, Lisa O'Shea died seven days after being scalded in Double Hot Springs when she attempted to rescue two dogs,[17] and the Bureau of Land Management subsequently fenced "Double Hot".[16]
21st centuryJack Lee Harelson was fined $2.5 million in 2002 for archeological looting of Elephant Mountain Cave. In 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca District Office completed a roundup of 1,922 wild horses in the Calico Mountains Complex, of which 39 died of malnutrition due to overgrazing.[16]: d [16]: h
From 1990 to 2019, and starting again in 2022, the Black Rock Desert playa has been the location for the Burning Man festival.
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