There are few places in Nevada where a highway runs alongside a flowing river, and this is one. This scenic canyon is a “water gap,” where an active watercourse crosses a mountain range. The aesthetic attractiveness is heightened by the incongruous contrast of desert and river. The West Walker River, which rises in the Sierra Nevada to the west, is also undammed except for some low irrigation diversion structures at the east end of Wilson Canyon. This is nearly unique among the rivers draining the Sierra to the east. A…
