The Great Rivers That Drain Our Continent

The Humboldt River of Nevada.

A major river. Not as wide as the Mississippi or Columbia, but still a substantial river. The various streams that join and form the river start in the Ruby Mountains Near Elko. Not exactly a place known for rain and snowfall, it does get snow, but tends to be a really dry snow and not all that much. The river has uncountable bends and oxbows as it meanders across Nevada, and just ends in a sink. Never reaches the ocean.

Then there is the D River in Oregon. The locals in Lincoln City claim it is the world's shortest river at 120 feet long. It does meet every geologic/hydrologic criteria to be a 'river'. If you have hiking an entire river from origin to mouth on your bucket list, here is an easy way to do it, then have dinner and drinks at the adjacent restaurant/bar to celebrate the accomplishment.

I actually heli-skied the Ruby Mountains about 10 years ago on a bucket list trip with my dad, who was about 75 at the time. It was my last ski trip with him.

We lucked out. It had been a dry season, and we postponed our trip from January to late March. It started dumping the day we arrived. We skied out of a snow cat on day 1, sticking to the trees. Certainly good skiing. Then the skies cleared, and we spent the next day skiing knee deep powder under a blue sky! I had second tracks (after the guide) on several ruins, including the famous Come Line. 

After that trip, I said to myself, if I never ski again, I can live with that. Now I finally have Little Hungry on skis, so I am back at it after a long hiatus.

I wouldn't call it a "favorite", but I've been spending a lot of time in the last month or so on the Nile and in the Sahara.

Explanation: I watched "The English Patient" some years ago in a local theater (by myself - the wife expressed zero interest in the movie). Impressed by the story and the cinematography (Anthony Minghella-directed, Saul Zaentz "epic"-style movie), I read the Michael Ondaatje novel (a couple of times), and began to wonder about the characters and geographical locations depicted in both the novel and film, along with the ancient histories of Herodotus and such. (Nothing like getting into a trivial pop phenom really deep!)

Much of the locale of both the movie and the book were mined by Ondaatje from "the real", but there are numerous twists he introduced as well. The "Cave of Swimmers" is an actual place discovered by various people, some of whom make appearances in the book and many of whom started as "desert rats" wandering in the Egypt/Libya/Sudan areas of the Sahara "for fun" in the 20s and 30s. A number of these people spent time pursuing the dream of finding the legendary "lost oasis" of Zerzura, rumored to be somewhere west of the Great Sand Sea in the area of the massive and impressive Gilf Kebir.

To understand the travels of these explorers as well as the European interest in the area from the standpoint of the later WWII military events, I made myself more familiar with the twists and turns of the lower Nile and its relation to the desert regions. For instance, the Italians, who were, preWWII, attempting to use Libya as a stepping stove to dominance of northern Africa and the Middle East, most of which was under the thumb of the British at the time, and who were interested in exploration of desert trails in order to allow them to surreptitiously approach the British outposts and access points further east. The great southern bend of the Nile - the Dongola reach - figured prominently in their schemes to link their interests in north Africa and bridge to the Nile via land and air.

But that's somewhat obscure for someone from Texas. I've lived near and explored a few of the rivers in Texas, but, perhaps sadly, never saw these as "grand" or significant.

ETA: I recognize that my choice is "off topic". This seems to be something I do a lot. :^D
It occurs to me now that I could just as well talked about the Colorado (either the one that flows through the GC or the one that flows through Austin). I've visited both, though I'm clearly more familiar with the latter.

I’ve been partial to the southwestern rivers that provide lush banks often contrasting the surrounding arid lands.  One of my best trips was a cliff overlook atop the Verde River, watching an eagle below (Matzazal wilderness).  The Gila, Rio Grande, and Colorado are the biggies though.  The latter may not be that big for long  ... 

www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/weather/colorado-river-flow-dwindling-warming-temperatures-climate-change/index.html