Amargosa River

Amargosa River
Amargosa River at Tecopa, California
Location of the mouth of the Amargosa River in California
Etymology	Spanish word for "bitter"
Location
Country	United States
State	Nevada, California
County	Nye, San Bernardino, and Inyo
Physical characteristics
Source	Pahute Mesa
• location	Oasis Valley, Nye County, Nevada
• coordinates	37°04′20″N 116°41′19″W / 37.07222°N 116.68861°W / 37.07222; -116.68861[1]
• elevation	3,964 ft (1,208 m)[2]
Mouth	Death Valley
• location	Badwater Basin, Inyo County, California
• coordinates	36°14′37″N 116°51′24″W / 36.24361°N 116.85667°W / 36.24361; -116.85667[1]
• elevation	−282 ft (−86 m)[3]
Length	185 mi (298 km)[1]
Basin size	5,500 sq mi (14,000 km2)[4]
Discharge
• location	0.2 miles (0.3 km) west of Tecopa[5]
• average	3.8 cu ft/s (0.11 m3/s)[5]
• minimum	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
• maximum	10,600 cu ft/s (300 m3/s)
National Wild and Scenic River
Type	Wild, Scenic, Recreational
Designated	March 30, 2009

The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perenial flow.^[6] It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare^[quantify] rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.