I went over and checked out the Mohave Dam today and there is a lake behind it. I hiked off of Deep Creek Rd up to the old Hesperia aquaduct on the hillside which then leads into the PCT on the north side of the Deep Creek Canyon going east of the Mohave Dam. The new lake extends a ways up the Deep Creek Canyon and off west toward the direction of Silverwood Lake. It looks like its about five miles long. Flood waters are blasting out of the pipe that goes through the dam in enormous volumes. I could see spray coming from the dam area as I was driving down Deep Creek Road. I hiked east on the PCT a ways to where I could see the lake ended and the Deep Creek flood waters began. It is at a big bend in the canyon just east of the dam, and at that spot in the creek there is a huge sand bar burying a grove of Sycamores where the sand had settled in the slower water. Should be interesting to check out in the summer. HWY 173 and the end of Lake Arrow Head Rd ( I think thats what its called ) where they meet in a T are all under the new lake waters. HWy 173 heading east of there is also under water so no going up the backway to Arrowhead. The little trailer that is at the end of the pavement on HWY 173 before it turns to dirt and heads up the hill, is lake front property now! I saw with my binoculars some ducks down on the new lake and even a big grey Heron flying across its surface to the shore. The new lake shows signs that it has gone down about 2 to 3 feet from its highest level. Looks like the Mohave River is going to be going full bore for a good while until that lake gets emptied. Rock Springs Rd as you can imagine is completly thrashed, actually completely gone in about the middle half of the river section. The railroad bridge there also lost one of its supports in the middle of the river from the flooding. While I was at the Rock Springs crossing, which is barricaded with road closed signs, some guys drove around the barricade up to the rivers edge, and I talked to them briefly and they were actually considering whether they could get across in thier truck, since they had work to do in Hesperia. I told them, " not a chance " and to head down to Bear Valley Rd. I put 9 new photos at the Wizard's pictures link, the last nine on page 48, photos taken today ( 1-11-05 ) of the new lake and the Mohave River. I called the local paper, the Daily Press and told them that I had some good photos of the new lake behind the Mohave Dam. They had me send my photos to them via e-mail so I'll be looking to see if they actually use any of them in an article. One thing for sure, Deep Creek is getting scrubbed to the bone by all of this flooding :-)
