Is it a Mirage?

I spent the weekend in Pahrump, Nevada, visiting my friends, Aranka and George. Aranka and I have known each other since the early 1970’s. It’s been nice catching up since she and George moved from Northern California to Pahrump, much closer to my home. It’s “only” about 250 miles.

While exploring the desert area between Pahrump and Death Valley, near Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, we spotted what looked like a large blue lake in the middle of the flatlands… in the bone-dry desert. Is it real, we asked ourselves? Or, is it a mirage? It seemed too unreal to be real; such a bright turquoise in the middle of nowhere. Driving in the direction of the lake, we finally came upon a sign “Crystal Reservoir”, and turned down the road. As you can see in the gallery, it’s very real!

Naturally, we were curious… salt water? After walking closer, and sinking in the soft muck near the shore (ugh), I stuck my finger in the water and tasted. It’s certainly not salt water, it had no flavor whatsoever. We didn’t see any fish or sign of life in the water, but there were quite a few birds… ducks and oyster-catchers, and other birds off in the distance. What a beautiful color that lake is, very perplexing, but a beautiful color! ~SueBee

What looked like a mirage, isn’t!

Soft muck near the shore

That color… oh, that gorgeous color!

Crystal clear water… must be how they name it Crystal Reservoir!

Hello from George and Aranka