Ok someone has to ask, What does this really mean? Where does it come from? Who thought it up? Does it mean surface? Playing field, Or is it the dry lake name? What? My wife said honey, who is the playa? I said I am honey! Thanks.

I looked this up jsut a few days ago, infact!

A playa; also known as an alkali flat, sabkha, or salt flat; is a dry lakebed.


Check out more @ wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playa

Baluk is correct. It's derived from spanish for "beach". Look at a map of Mexico or Spain and you'll see "playas" all over the coast.

Thanks! Just the other day infact.. Hum.... You were thinking of it the same time I was Another fluke of magic I guess.

So my question to you is, do these fill with water regularly? Just when it rains (barely?) or like seasonally.

Aha. wow. again! yes, like yesterday or the day before.

I think just when it rains or snows They fill with runoff. not sure though.

If it rains continually and the ground does not have a chance to absorb the water as fast as the water is filling, then yes, they are no longer dry lakes and become temporary shallow lakes. Runoff fro snowmelt can also be the culprit.

When it rains or there is snow melt the runoff does not soak into the ground because of it mainly being rock. The water has to go somewhere so it ends up in the lowest place on the valley floor. This is my understanding of a dry lake.

Susan

How deep/shallow is the lake?

Don't know. Are you going to go to NABX this year?

Don't know.. its all about teh $$... Are you?

Yes!!! I get to go for the first time this year! I said that too about the $$ But the biggest expence will be for gas Aroung 600 miles for me one way But it will be worth it. I just got registered yesterday and booked a room at Buffalo bills. I cant wait to ride the largest rollercoaster in the word!

Been living here for 20 years. Seen the playa a couple inches deep with water, seen the entire valley full of water. Just depends. I've often seen people kayaking on the temporary lake.

What Susan said is very true, but mostly applies to snow and the aftermath of a huge rainstorm, from what I've seen. The rain can happen so sudden in such a large volume, hence "flash floods", that it can fill the our flood channels (or the playa) up in minutes to an hour

Hey Sailors,
The desert dry lakes we love so much are the result of climatic changes that occurred some 60,000 years ago.
The water sources dried up and so did the lakes.
The surface we play on is the top of all the sediment that slowly filled the lake.
Some places at Ivanpah can be over 100 feet deep (to bedrock).

Standing water on Ivanpah is mainly due to rainfall.
Runoff is an issue only in the immediate valley surrounding Ivanpah.
Seldom does the water get more than an inch or two deep.
It happens, as we all know, but it is very rare.

Rainfall here in the desert averages around 6 inches a year.
Doesn't sound like much except it can come in a 20 minute/2 inch deluge.
Three of those downpours hits the average but hardly describes the scene.
2 inches of rain in 20 minutes is a 6 inch/hour average.
No place on earth sustains that heavy a prolonged rain.

Be careful in the desert.

Like I said at nabx just as the rain began to fall the year of the Great Flood,
"I know the desert weather - This is just verga rain - No worries"
("verga" rain falls from the sky but evaporates before it hits the ground)


Safen Up! Buggy On!

"Often wrong... Never in doubt"

the coreylama

I've been on the lake in ankle deep water. I drove for seaside 22hrs, coming down the last hill I could see the reflection of the hotel casinoes on the lake, Fortunatley there are a couple higher lakes to ride on, not as good as ivanpah, but still fun. A few years ago the lake filled up in just hours. It a good idea to keep up on the weather down there. We worked all day to free up RV's and trailers. It's was fun to watch a powerstroke f350 pulling a huge RV 2 miles along a muddy road.

Those ruts are still visible today Oh well, it happens, though they have smoothed up quite a bit.

Not that this was the circumstance, but I always chuckle to myself when people venture out (not to Ivanpah) because it "looks" dry, only to find out that the desert can be very decieving, and get stuck . Even when the top looks dry it can still be wet underneath. Always best after a rain to drive to the shoreline and test the playa with your shoes rather than a couple thousand pound vehicle. I've stepped onto Eldorado when it "looked" dry and sank about a foot in some very serious mud. It was quite comical watching me try to get out of it

Here's a picture of what a flash flood can do, this was in a water detention basin by Black Mountain

At least 6 inches of water

Maybe kite mud kneeboarding will be the next extreme sport sensation. Could probably even get a kiteboard up on a plane in that

Jeff H, Jason F, and Erik A. and I were in w. Africa crossing a 'dry' lakebed when we came to the other side, after hours of riding in one direction, we notice the lake bed was becoming slightly darker. We sent the support vehicles through, and they got stuck in knee deep mud, we fought for hours trying to get them out, finally, tired, dehydrated, sore, lost in west Africa, we got out after dark, I thought we'd messed up the trucks. they got us back to the closest bottle of beer, then our boats. I'm not pushing the trucks next time, I'm pulling them with my Manta!