| Area | Rancheria Creek |
| Topic | Tour: Rancheria Creek Stream Channel 1995 |
Pool gives way to a long, shallow glide in Rancheria Creek below Ham Canyon Creek. High gradient riffle causes white water at the head of the pool. The canyon floor is wide in this reach making it a C3 channel type. Rancheria Creek has sparse riparian conditions here, with very early seral stage conifers mixed with hardwoods on the slopes adjacent to the river and little opportunity for large wood recruitment. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
Bedrock canyon narrowly constrains Rancheria Creek with a series of high gradient riffles in upstream giving way to a long pool and run in the foreground. The narrow confinement and large substrate suggest a Rosgen B2 channel type. The vegetation on the watershed hillslopes is small diameter mixed conifer and hardwoods. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
Low gradient riffle spills into to pool below in a wide valley reach (C4). The lack of riparian in areas like this make Rancheria Creek very subject to warming. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
High gradient riffle in Rancheria Creek with a few alder trees in the immediate riparian but larger trees in the overstory providing the shade from the morning sun in the photo. The channel is a B2 channel type because of the confinement of the valley, higher gradient and large substrate. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
This photo shows Rancheria Creek moving from a glide into pocket water, which is a deep run around boulders. Depth in this reach, however, is restricted because of high bedload supply (see Picture #7). Riparian is in early seral stage and providing little benefit for shade and cool microclimate benefits of older age forests. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
Long pool shallows into a run in the foreground along Rancheria Creek. The closely confined canyon here should be providing a much deeper pool but the sediment supply is so much over equilibrium that the site has massive small gravel deposits. Local fishermen once floated this canyon in boats to catch runs of "silver salmon" before post WW II logging. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
This large boulder in the foreground of the photo and bedrock in the shade constrict the flow of Rancheria Creek at this site and should scour a deep pocket. Instead small gravel and fine sediment are deposited, which are indicative of a high sediment supply. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
Inner gorge failure at left has contributed sediment to Rancheria Creek here. The landslide may be a legacy of old logging (see stump at left). This reach of the creek is a run and shallows into a glide. The lack of depth facilitates stream warming. Photo by Pat Higgins, June 1995.
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