Long Valley is an approximately long
endorheic
An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...
basin in the northern portion of
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County () is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 486,492, making it Nevada's second-most populous county. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County is included in the Reno, NV Metropolitan Sta ...
in the northwest corner of
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
. It is bordered by the
Hays Canyon Range to the west, which gradually transitions into rolling hills north of the valley. To the east lies a large plateau, which is partially dissected by
Massacre Lake Valley
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group or person.
The word is a loan of a French term for "b ...
; this plateau eventually rises to over 7,000 feet in elevation as it rises toward the
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge
The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge, national wildlife refuge on the northern border of the U.S. state of Nevada. A very small part extends northward into Oregon. It is managed by the United States ...
.
Description
Long Valley was descriptively so named on account of its length. Most of the valley floor consists of small
playas, such as
Calcutta Lake and
Boulder Lake. The edges of the valley host various ranches; at the western edge of Long Valley is the ghost town of
Vya, Nevada
Vya is a small ghost town located in Washoe County, in northwestern Nevada, United States. It is about east of the California state line, north of Forty Nine Canyon. Not much remains of the small town, which essentially died in the 1920s. Just ...
.
Geology
As part of the events that ultimately led to the creation of the
Basin and Range Province
The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, charac ...
, during the late
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58[Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...](_blank)
,
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
was extruded in the Lake Valley region as the surrounding mountains were lifted and the valley floor dropped.
[Sinclair, William. ''Ground-Water Appraisal of the Long Valley Massacre Lake Region, Washoe County, Nevada''. Ground-Water Resources - Reconnaissance Series Report 15. State of Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, May 1963, p. 10.] Due to the lack of natural drainage in the valley, the valley periodically filled with water, transforming the valley into
pluvial
In geology and climatology, a pluvial is either a modern climate characterized by relatively high precipitation or an interval of time of variable length, decades to thousands of years, during which a climate is characterized by relatively high ...
Lake Meinzer,
[http://pubs.usgs.gov/mf/1999/mf-2323/mf2323.pdf ] which peaked at a maximum depth of 250 feet over the valley floor.
Much of the valley is filled with deposits from the former lake.
Access
From the west, Long Valley can be accessed from
Cedarville, California
Cedarville (formerly Surprise Valley and Deep Creek)() is a census-designated place located east of Alturas, at an elevation of , in Modoc County, California. Its population is 437 as of the 2020 census, down from 514 at the 2010 census.
Geog ...
via
California State Route 299
State Route 299 (SR 299) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs across the northern part of the state. At , it is the third longest California state route, after Route 1 and Route 99, and the longest east-we ...
, which remains paved until the state border, at which point the road follows the decommissioned
Nevada State Route 8A
Former State Route 8A (SR 8A) was a two-part state highway in the U.S. state of Nevada, running from California State Route 299 in a general easterly and southeasterly direction via Vya and Denio to US 95 north of Winnemucca, and south from ...
road bed into Vya. Near Vya, former Nevada State Route 8A intersects with
Nevada State Route 34
State Route 34 is a decommissioned state highway in Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeas ...
(now Washoe County CR34), which provides access to Long Valley from
Gerlach, Nevada
Gerlach, Nevada is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 130 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Prior to 2010, Gerlach was part of the ...
to the south, and Coleman Valley Road, which cuts across Long Valley just north of Vya, veers just east of Calcutta Lake, then heads north toward
Adel, Oregon
Adel is an unincorporated community in southeastern Lake County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The community is in an arid, sparsely populated part of the state, along Oregon Route 140, about east of Lakeview. The Warner Valley surrounding Ade ...
. From the east, Long Valley can be accessed via
Nevada State Route 140
State Route 140 (SR 140) is a two-lane state highway in Humboldt County, Nevada. It serves a sparsely populated section of the state, connecting northwestern Nevada to southern Oregon. Most of the highway was originally part of State Route 8A ...
, which intersects with former Nevada State Route 8A between
Denio Junction, Nevada and the
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
border.
See also
*
List of valleys of Nevada
This is a list of valleys of Nevada. Valleys are ordered alphabetically, by county. Dramatic parallelism is shown in the landforms of central and eastern Nevada. The most common valley name is Antelope Valley which is used for 5 different areas in ...
References
External links
* {{GNIS, 841814, Long Valley
Valleys of Washoe County, Nevada