National Trails Day

April 20, 2011

While, as far as we’re concerned, every day is trails day, if not head-off-the-trail-and-see-what’s-happening-in-the-trackless-woods-day, this year’s official National Trails Day will be Saturday, June 4. To celebrate, the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, REI Marina and the California State Parks will be offering us all an easy way to help keep the trails in good condition. Sign-up opens at Big Sur Station at 9:00 am, with trail work projects available for “all ages.” They supply tools and refreshments. All you need are gloves, water, a hat, and closed-toe shoes (you weren’t really going to do trail work in sandals, were you?). See the VWA website for more information.

As there aren’t many endeavors in which a few hours toil can yield such satisfying results, this whole “Trails Day” thing is, basically, a sneaky way to get you hooked on the pleasures of this type of work – with the hope that you’ll then volunteer for more lengthy stints on the VWA’s backcountry trail crews. There’s certainly no doubting that the trails need more help than they’re getting.

So here, in honor of Trails Day and to inspire you to get out on the trails and get (or stay) involved in maintaining them, we present some scenes from the trailsides of Monterey County …

Tufted poppies along the Skinner Ridge Trail – Ventana Wilderness Read the rest of this entry »


Flashback! The Pfeiffer Park Pool

April 2, 2011

Navigating the pool, while avoiding any unnecessary contact with the water – 1966 Read the rest of this entry »


Pedestrians to Be Allowed to Cross Rocky Creek Slide

March 29, 2011

Early morning light on the Rocky Creek Bridge Read the rest of this entry »


Garland After the Rain

March 27, 2011


The Mesa at Garland Regional Park

Hard to remember the last day without rain. With the sun finally shining, we take a look at what’s up at Garland.
Read the rest of this entry »


Runoff Roundup

March 25, 2011

The Carmel River pushing better than 5,000 cubic feet per second across the sandbar this morning at 7:30am Read the rest of this entry »


Big Sur River Above Flood Stage

March 24, 2011

Redwoods in the rain – Post Creek

At 7:15pm Thursday, March 24, the Big Sur River was at 10.36 feet (flood stage is 10 feet) and flowing at 4,690 cubic feet per second. The water level was still climbing, but not as quickly as earlier in the evening. This does NOT mean that there will necessarily be a damaging flood. The Big Sur River topped 5,000cfs in October of 2009 without causing any serious damage and the post Marble-Cone Fire floods of 1978 hit 10,700cfs – more than twice the water currently flowing down the river.

Click here to view the current height of the Big Sur River. See our Links Page for other local stream gauges.

7:50pm Update: The river is now dropping. At 7:45 it was at 10.17 feet (4,430cfs).

8:50pm Update: River below flood stage, as of 8:30, running at 9.80 feet (4,050cfs).


Last Road Link to Big Sur Cut Off

March 24, 2011

America’s most scenic concentration camp? Read the rest of this entry »


Remembering the 1983 Big Sur Slides

March 23, 2011

“Hell, that’s not a slide … let Ed the mailman fix it.” Walt Trotter at the controls, 1971 (Photo by Sterling Doughty) Read the rest of this entry »


Pedestrians & the Highway One Slide

March 22, 2011

Reminders that our society is becoming ever more authoritarian and ever more eager to constrain our activities “for our own good,” seem to be everywhere. One day it’s harassing people while they try to protect their homes from a wildfire, another day it’s attempting to close the beach when bad weather is forecast. Now comes the blanket ban on pedestrian traffic past the Highway One slide. Read the rest of this entry »


Geotrashing

March 21, 2011

No one has signed the waterlogged log in this moldering “Geocache” since 2007. Read the rest of this entry »