This is Arrowhead Spring. The water seepes out of the side of the hill and collects on the ground at the base of the hill. The face of the hill is pointed in the middle, giving it an arrow shape.

Desertphile at Bull Spring.

	This tangle of brush hides Coyote Hole, a seep located in Kingston Wash. If one does not know what to look for, one will not know enough to find water here.
	This is the approach to Coyote Hole. One cannot actually see water here: one must go into the brush to find it.
	Here is the water within Coyote Hole. Some hundred years ago someone placed a basin of stones here, to hold some water for the desert creatures to drink.

This is Hepatitis Spring, so named because too many humans used this pool for dangerous sexual behavior. My advice is, STAY OUT! Tecopa Hot Springs is close, and a great deal safer.

Ibix Spring, in Death Valley. It was a six-mile hike one way for me to visit here, in 118 degree heat (and no shade). I ran out of water on the hike back to the highway, and had a rough and uncomfortable three hours' hike.

This travertine (calcite) field at Kingston Spring looks like snow. The Mojave Desert aquifer is compresed of limestone and calcium carbonate, which is in solution in the water. Where it comes to the surface, this solution is deposited. Stalactites and stalagmites are made of this material.

Kingston Spring, and its grass field. This place is over-run by rabbits and hares, to such an extent that the ground has a layer of rabbit droppings. This is a very popular place for coyotes and kit foxes to hunt; since the rabbits and hares do not come out during the day, hawks have to wait for the dawn and dusk hours. One should have an all-wheel drive vehicle to visit this spring; I used my Toyota pickup, and I was lucky to have not been stuck in the mine-long sandy wash I drove through.

Desertphile and the Mojave River.

	This water cache is for Mexicans who sneek across the border dueing the summer. It is so hot in the desert that many of them die; the USA government places drinking water along the most popular routes taken by Mexicans.
	Another water cache. This one is close enough to a highway so that motorists stranded in the desert will have something to drink.

More of the Mojave River. In most places the river runs under the ground. Here it has come to the surface, and is about two inches deep in places.

This is Pachalka Spring. There is pure, cool, sweet water here, under these trees. Though I might have been able to drive here in my pickup, I chose to hike the six miles in and six miles out, fearing the pickup would get stuck. There are a few places where the road turns to deep sand, so this was probably a very good decision. There was a small settlement here at Pachalka Spring. This spring is now part of the Mojave Desert Preserve, and is therefore now not inhabited by humans. There are remains of the settlement near the spring. The altitude is over 5,000 feet above mean sea level, so now and then it will snow here. To the southeast a few miles is Worldwide Mine, which produced copper. Half a mile east there was a gold mine, and a mile north there was a gold mine. 1.5 miles north was another gold mine. This was (and is) an extremely beautiful, properous, comfortable place to dig gold. I carry a 1.4 inch copper tube with me when hiking, to drink through when I come to water. This tube allows me to drink without stirring up silt.

Soda Springs. This image is copyright 2002 Fredric Rice, and all rights are reserved.

Soda Springs. This image is copyright 2002 Fredric Rice, and all rights are reserved.

Soda Springs. This image is copyright 2002 Fredric Rice, and all rights are reserved.

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Hyten's Well #1

Hyten's Well #2