Sacramento River at Turtle Bay EarthCache
Sacramento River at Turtle Bay
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March 2013 Construction:
The coords will take you to the TurtleBay Exploration Park and Sundial Bridge parking lot. Please note: The information for logging this cache will be across the bridge and the view down river from the bridge.
SACRAMENTO RIVER WATERSHED
The Sacramento River is the longest river entirely within the state of California. Starting near Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range mountains, the Sacramento flows south for 447 miles, miles through the northern Central Valley of California, between the Pacific Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada. Various other sources list the river length from 320 to 450 miles.
Not far downstream from its confluence with the American River, the Sacramento River joins the San Joaquin River in the Sacramento River Delta, which empties into Suisun Bay, the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. The Sacramento is the second largest river by volume in the Continental USA to drain into the Pacific Ocean, behind only the Columbia River.
The River changes its bank configuration and location constantly due to the make-up (terrain) of the land it flow through. The river travels thorough rock and basalt cliffs, peat bogs, rocky banks and flat shores that open up into wetlands and sandy beaches. As the River meanders’ into populated areas there is a massive levee system built to curtail the rivers movement, constant change and to protect the populated areas from floods. Over the years there have been many floods despite the levee system. The river has a mind of its own.
The chief tributaries of the Sacramento River are the Pit River, Feather River, McCloud River, and the American River. The Pit River is the longest of these, but the Feather and American rivers carry larger volumes of water. Lesser tributaries include Dye Creek, Cache Creek, and Stony Creek. Hundreds of far lesser seasonal creeks and run off streams empty into these tributaries and feed into the Sacramento River. These small fingers of water are called watersheds, many have no names, some are seasonal other run throughout the year. The watershed is essential for the rivers primary functions which are recreation and farm irrigation.
Turtle Bay Exploration Park is the home of the Redding Arboretum, opened on May 30, 2005, and covers 300 acres including 200 acres of undeveloped arboretum and 20 acres of botanical garden that span the Sacramento River. Turtle Bay is also the home of the Redding Sundial Bridge. From the Sundial Bridge one of the many “tributaries” that contributes to the watershed flowing into the Sacramento can be seen.
The object of this Earthcache is to familiarize one with the length of and configuration of the Sacramento River and the watersheds that feed its run to the Pacific Ocean.
To log this cache send the owner the following information.
PLEASE, DO NOT POST THE INFORMATIONON YOUR LOG.
1. List the name of the Cache
2. The number of people in your party
3. The name of the watershed stream/creek emptying into the Sacramento at Turtle Bay
4. Looking down river from the bridge, explain the difference in the left and right river banks from your view at the bridge.
5. Photo of yourself or group on the Sundial Bridge with the “watershed” creek in the background. (photo optional but appreciated)
6. If you enjoyed this Earthcache, award it with a Favorite. Keep Earthcaches on the top of the Favorite lists.
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Treasures
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