1. ONLY THE RAREST FISH IN THE WHOLE DANG WORLD
There are days when life just throws you a luxurious moment, like the kind where you suddenly come to grips with being in an extraordinary place, or where you find yourself crossing paths with a type of wildlife that doesn’t exactly occupy your normal, any-old-kinda Tuesday. However, everything going on with the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish encompasses both, arming you with plenty of reason to set some days aside—heck, even a Tuesday—to understand and live this whole dang excursion for yourself. IT’S THAT COOL. There is so much to write home about the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish and its crazy-alluring environment, so—please—read on! But if you take away one thing—and one thing only—let it be this: it’s the rarest fish in the whole world. There are different types of Desert Pupfish, sure, but the Devils Hole variety (Cyprinodon diabolis, if you want to get technical) has only about 100-ish individuals left in existence, all living together in the smallest, and probably most unique habitat of any known vertebrate species on earth.
2. ...AND WAS THE FIRST EVER SPECIES CLASSIFIED AS ENDANGERED
Yep. Read it and weep, friends. The Devils Hole Desert Pupfish was already on the radar of desert dwellers and scientists back in the 1930s, prompting the unwavering research of Ichthyologist Robert Rush Miller to shine a light on this incredibly fascinating and tremendously rare species of fish. As the years went by, this southern section of Nevada drew more and more attention—partially because it’s straight-up visually stunning (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve been lucky enough to visit), but also because, in 1952, the area found itself newly protected when President Truman granted Death Valley its National Monument status. Suddenly, the word was out: this place was cool. By the 1960s, hydrogeologists realized this location was unlike anywhere else on Planet Earth and installed hydrographical instruments to keep tabs on what was going down beneath the surface. Crazy, right? When, in 1966, the Endangered Species Preservation Act became a thing, the findings of Miller’s extensive studies decades earlier earned the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish first place in line at the protection office. Bragging rights on bragging rights.
3. SO, WHERE IS THIS MAGICAL DESERT OASIS?
It might sound like we're describing some legit sci-fi sorta stuff straight off the silver screen, but we assure you that this place is not only absolutely real, but also impressively accessible from the Las Vegas Strip itself and most places in southern California. You know when you think you’re in “middle-of-nowhere” Nevada? Let this inspire you to get that perception in check, because smack-dab in the center of what you might imagine to be desolate nothingness (like so many other endlessly double-take-worthy Nevada gems) lies the Desert Pupfish’s incredible habitat. The place is Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and actually a very hard-earned portion of the Death Valley National Park complex, within the Amargosa Desert ecosystem. Maybe it’s because it’s more remote, a bit more of a challenge to access (if you’re coming from the CA side anyway,) or the fact that it’s not a glaring option in front of you the minute you roll into Death Valley headquarters. Bottom line: along with big-ticketers like Titus Canyon, Artist’s Palette and Badwater Basin, Ash Meadows totally merits a stop… a long one, at that. After getting wowed by the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish, be prepared: your understanding of the word “oasis” will finally make sense when you come to grips with the fact that TWENTY-FIVE other endemic plants and animals seek refuge from the surrounding desert at Ash Meadows—all specific varieties of life found literally nowhere else on the planet. Yeah, how about we make it middle-of-somewhere.
4. THE HABITAT? A NATURAL HOT SPRING FED BY AN UNDERGROUND, PREHISTORIC OCEAN
There are so many qualities about Ash Meadowsto impress even the snarkiest of desert snobs, but a feature you’d have to purposely avoid are the multitude of astonishing pockets of natural springs peppered throughout the area. Picture this: you’re walking along a series of prime boardwalks through a textbook desertscape, and then BAM—one of the clearest, Caribbean-esque pools of water you’d never see coming materializes in front of you. Like a legit desert mirage, these crystal clear springs certainly feel out of place, but are evidence of another time… an ancient time. Though hard to imagine today, all of Death Valley and Ash Meadows was once completely submerged under water around 12,000 years ago. As the climate changed, water levels dramatically receded...completely drying it out to the state you can see today, leaving these unblemished pockets of water. Interestingly enough, as these pools became isolated from each other, the newly segregated fish slowly started evolving and adapting differently. That alone is over the top attractive, but how did those pools manage to hang on in one of the hottest and driest places in existence? Here’s where it gets interesting: these natural warm and cool springs are fed by a series of underground aquifers, sometimes called fossil water. If that doesn’t kick your imagination into high gear, there might be something seriously wrong.
The water in these pockets of pools continuously flows at whopping 10,000 gallons per minute, and something scientists believe to be the runoff from precipitation that fell on the surrounding mountains in the Pleistocene Era over 10,000 years ago. The water flows very, very slowly into the carbonate rock aquifer and becomes more and more alkali over time. And get this, enough of this water essentially forms an entire underground, prehistoric ocean that flows underneath the Nevada National Security Siteand pushed upward to Ash Meadows along fault lines at specific geographical points. If that’s not enough to wet your whistle, a study conducted at BYU in 2010 confirmed what hydrologists basically already knew: water arriving at Ash Meadows has completed a 15,000 year journeyflowing from the area beneath the NNSS. This hydrological network connects massive channels of ancient aquifers throughout southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, Ash Meadows just happens to be one of the best dang examples. Total. Mindblower.
5. A SACRED PLACE FOR THE TIMBISHA PEOPLE
So, what was happening around 10,000 years ago in Ash Meadows, besides retreating water levels? Before European-American explorers were called west by the California gold fields, the area we now know as Ash Meadows NWR was home to the Timbisha People, a Southern Paiute branch of the Shoshone. All water is sacred to just about everyone in such an arid environment like this, but this area was something of a particularly spiritual nature for the Timbisha. When eyeing down these extremely vibrant pools, it’s a no-brainer that they’re a rarity and should be respected to the umpteenth degree. The Timbisha held the natural springs at Ash Meadows with the highest honor because they provided such an artery of life—dependable water sources like these pools meant clean drinking water, food and bathing on the regular. Probably what’s most interesting is that the Timbisha not only worshiped the springs, but also authored a boatload of fascinating cultural folklore about them, too. In a version of one legend, mothers would warn their children not play in the spring-fed pools for too long because they believed creatures would eventually emerge from the pool’s unknown depths and swallow them whole. And the story of Tso’apittse—who the Timbisha believed was an evil giant who lived in the caves or springs in surrounding mountains—would reveal himself only to snatch and gobble up unsuspecting victims. So, see? It’s not just us and the folks at Death Valley who are thinkin’ this place has something special going on… to the Timbisha, it’s 9,000 year-old news.
Amazing. I wonder whats happening to that place right now.