Mud Slough

Not too muddy now! This was a former distributary channel for the Truckee River, which today only flows into landlocked Pyramid Lake. It used to occasionally overflow this way, however, and fill a shallow basin in the valley east of Pyramid Lake to form Winnemucca Lake. However, when the Newlands Irrigation Project was constructed in the early 20th century, part of the Truckee was diverted for irrigation, and there wasn't enough flow remaining to spill thru this channel even in the wettest years. So it all dried up. The channel is still well-defined in the satellite view. The stumps are of cottonwood trees that used to line the channel; obviously there was enough water for them back then year-to-year. They probably were sawed up for firewood after they died. The insets show closeups of some of the stumps. The dead brown bushes are tumbleweed (aka Russian thistle), one of the most obnoxious invader weeds to afflict the American west.

It was probably considerably nicer before the diversion-- ;)

EDIT:
In answer to a question by Don Barrett: Mud Slough doesn't channel runoff even during extraordinary water years like the last season. At this point it would take civil engineering to send water this way again. As the level of Pyramid Lake dropped due to the diversions, the Truckee incised its channel to the point that it's now considerably below the level of Mud Slough.