HEADWATERS
Rex Burress
On July 13, 2016, I presented a slide show at the Lake Oroville Visitor Center entitled “Headwaters.”
I primarily intended to feature locations of beginning sources of water for the Feather River that feeds Lake Oroville, although 'headwaters' can refer to the beginning of any stream, and indeed, to many aspects of tangible things in the sense that everything has a beginning.
A query from the audience made me realize that not everyone was familiar with the term 'headwaters.' If you don't have a particular word in your vocabulary, the definition can be so obscure as to set your imagination loose.
The headwaters I was most focused on for the show was the winter run-off flowing down from Buck's Lake into Spanish Creek, and especially the stream area around Oakland Feather River Camp. The cluster of visitor accommodations is leased by the city of Oakland from the Forest Service and was established in 1925 as a place where city folk could visit the mountains. At that time, a train destined for nearby Quincy, stopped on the tracks near camp to deliver pent-up metropolitan dwellers to the wonders of nature...and camp life.
Not much is different in those Sierran wildlife habitats surrounding the camp since the opening nearly a hundred years ago. New trees have replaced some of the large conifers, and one forest fire swept up the slope above the Toll-gate Creek headwater stream adjacent to the camp in the 1960's and rearranged the vegetation. In time, pine will dominate again, replacing the maples and chaparral that sprung up to fill the gap on the shaded mountainside after the fire. Nature is always changing but basically retaining the same wild essence.
Toll-gate Creek flows down from the Crystal Lake area where some mines were located, and a toll was charged to access the road. The creek thrives in the rich riparian zone with a variety of water-dependent plants clustered along the green ribbon of life. The camp also siphons water from the creek into a tank to supply camp needs.
Originating from snow melt, rains and springs, Toll-gate Creek's water-contribution to Spanish Creek and the Feather River is a true headwaters. The flow continues on--past Oroville to join the Sacramento River that runs into San Francisco Bay--and finally into the Pacific Ocean. Then ocean water is caught up in clouds, blown inland, and falls as rain on the river watershed to continue the cycle all over again!
Joining into the camaraderie of streams into Spanish Creek is hard-charging Gilson Creek that tumbles into the system from a precipice west of camp on the trail to the Cascades creek drop-off. Around the Gilson waterfall at the junction with Spanish Creek, you will find delightful elk's clover, leopard lilies, dragonflies, and, rattlesnakes! I led 28 hikers on the trail to the Cascades once and everyone passed an unseen coiled rattler scarcely two feet away off the path and nary a buzz! I trust those camp amenities still exist. Flying squirrels, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, deer, eagles, and water ouzels are a possibility!
Most mountains produce headwater streams, and the high-rise peaks in Lassen Park are no exception. Mill Creek, Deer Creek, and Big Chico Creek help drain the snow accumulation, while the Butte Creek drainage filters down from the adjoining ridges like a sprawling spider web of streams finding their way to the Sacramento River.
Even the mighty Mississippi River starts from a headwaters-spring in Minnesota!
“All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.” --New International Version King James Bible (20 Translations), Ecclesiastes 1:7