Anything Interesting Along the River??

Sunday February 22, 2015

Around 32 degrees, a little wind, a few "pellets" of snow, a great time for an excuse not to go, but we had committed ourselves to a hike. Given weather of the day we decided not to venture too far and decided to take the familiar hike to the south of the bridge.  We have never been disappointed as we have always seen something interesting. If there was to be a day with nothing interesting, today would be the day....cold and dreary.
The water was flowing nicely over the old beaver dams, and we heard a familiar call of a bird. Goodness...an American Robin!!  I have not seen one of these here in the year and a half we have been coming.  Robins were always an everyday spring through fall experience in our native Minnesota. But here it was special treat!  They have a wonderful call.  We  know there was a pair, as we heard both but saw only one.

Then we saw a huge flock of Pinyon Jays.  We see a pair quite frequently but have never seen such a huge flock.  They were flying to and from a big ol' Pinyon Pine tree.  Their calls are not so pleasant to the ears, but for today, this too, was a wonderful sound.

Shortly thereafter was the biggest surprise of all.  Take a look and if you have been following this blog you shall know why I was so thrilled.

Very Fresh Cuts!!

Yes indeed,  with the tell-tale tooth marks, there is absolutely no doubt, a beaver has been here recently!!!!!  From two previous blogs, from when the river was dry and we found the remains of two beavers I was really concerned whether when we would have beavers back  [Dry River Walk] & [No Name Ridge]

But here was proof.  We ventured further and it was clear one or more Beaver was very busy.

Many more bushes with fresh cuts

Very busy indeed

Difficult to see from Picture but much "repair" going on

 As we journeyed further we were also surprised to find a spot we hadn't noticed before where we could come next summer, have some lunch and enjoy the view in the shade of this great Juniper

The New Summer resting spot just before it started snowing.

Great View and Shady Spot Even With The Snow

The snow began to fall in BIG flakes

As the snow began to fall quite heavily, it was obvious it was time to head for home.  Our last find was another bird I hadn't seen in quite some time, a Killdeer, then a pair of ducks, mallards I believe.

So a dreary day for a hike but:
Robin, flock of Pinyon Jays, Killdeer, Mallards
Wonderful snow,
New summer lunch spot
Flowing river and
Best of all....Beavers are here.

Hopefully not an SDS Day!

Another Tree To Be Downed But A New Use For It

Saturday February 22

A cool, sunny morning and time to remove another Pinyon Pine which didn't make it.  But today, there will be no firewood, as I am going to try something different. In the photo below, mid way on the left side is a small black culvert. When there is that rare heavy rain, a lot of water rushes down from the ridge to the east and runs through the it.

At about this point the water starts to pick up speed. The rushing water causes erosion along the way. It picks up more water and eventually runs into the drive and can do a fair amount of damage to the sandy drive, as it did two summers ago.

And this rushing water goes right by a lot of trees, which could use a healthy drink.

After quite some contemplation, I have decided to use the logs of the trees I need to fell to build a series of small "check" dams over the course of 100 yards or so.

My theory of course is it will reduce erosion but, even more importantly, give the water a chance to soak into the ground, giving the needed drink. Of course, it has to rain or snow, but I shall be ready.

Today's Tree to be Removed and the Equipment

After the tree is felled I find a logical place for my dam and dig a small trench for a log to fit into and cut a log to length, place it, pack the sand underneath and then cover it with a lot of sand on top and on both sides. Nothing like being an amateur dam builder.  I have always enjoyed building dams...doesn't every kid??

My favorite dam story in good old Thief River Falls, Minnesota:

Once as a youth, in northwestern Minnesota, in the spring, after a large wet snow storm it got warm and snow was melting fast.  Several of us neighborhood kids built dams around all the street drains of an intersection and about 20 feet down each of the four street sections. It was marvelous!!  The whole intersection was about 6 inches deep in water and it was a big challenge to keep them all from collapsing.  One of the neighbors must not have appreciated our efforts, as after only a short while, a cop showed up and while amazed at our ingenuity, made us destroy that which we had built.  I still remember him smiling, as I often thought he would've liked to have been part of it.  I have often wondered if that cop was to be my future father-in-law about twelve years hence, as he was a great cop, whom most everybody really liked, even those who may have gotten into a little more trouble than building a dam or two.

Check Dam #1 With Base Dug In

Check Dam #1  Filled In Underneath

Check Dam #1 Completed

Check Dam #2 Completed

Two Check Dams Completed....Need a hard rain to see if they hold the water.  Need about four more further down to stop further erosion and hopefully will also help give the poor trees more to "drink" from.

Another great SDS Day!  Hope I am there when a downpour occurs...got my boots and shovel ready.

Total Peacefulness

Friday night, February 20, a little before 9:00 pm.

A nice evening for the drive.  Sliver of a moon, with a bright Venus low left and fainter but red Mars in between. As we climbed nine mile canyon road the moon set as we reached the top. The remainder of the 15 mile drive was quite dark as we watched the temperature fall and rise with each fall and rise of elevation.
After reaching the cabin, there was the usual scurry of activity.....Unpacking truck, climbing under cabin to turn water valves, light stove, turn on room heater, check all other systems, unpack cooler, make beds....whew...time to go to the deck and look at the stars and breath the cool 30 degree air.

How does one describe no air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, nor light pollution???

Not a sound, not even a mere breeze and  no man made light anywhere.

This is total peacefulness.

But how does one describe total peacefulness.?!?!?

Tonight:
The sky is ablaze with deep blackness broken by a billion diamonds,
And the silence is deafening, broken by my breathing.

Breakfast Blessing

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Eggs and blueberry pancakes cooking on an aluminum griddle on the grill. No matter the weather, I like these breakfasts cooked on the grill.  A little chilly, windy and a lot of clouds.  Hoping for rain.

Turned around and I was blessed with the wonder of a grand rainbow. And it had staying power, as it lasted for several minutes, until the pancakes were done. Timing is everything. Too bad my photography skills aren't a lot better as the colors were more powerful than the photo shows.

A Breakfast Blessing of a Rainbow

No Name Ridges

Saturday January 24, 2015, mid-day and time for a hike.  Beautiful yet cool day, and a great day for a hike yet we have lots to do, so we decide to go for an hour or so up and across the Ridge behind us.  I have talked about this ridge without a name in an earlier post. [The Ridge & Two Stick  ]  We plan on taking a new, yet short route to a special place called Retreat One.  It's an oft visited place for rest, meditation, or just for a great view looking West.

As we enjoyed the view we discussed where we should go tomorrow.  We thought a three to four hour hike might be in order.  As we discussed options, I suddenly focused on a "small" ridge in the distance. The ridge, like the one we were on, had no name.  We have walked past the distant ridge many times when we ventured south along the river. The lack of "something special" was intriguing enough for us to give it a try.  In the picture below, tomorrow's hike would be the closest & first small hill/ridge to the left of the road.  The narrow ridge at the center looked like it might be fun.

Tomorrow's hike in the distance

Sunday January 25, 2015

Heading to the Little No Name Ridge, Looks Easy Enough

As we reached the base of this hill & ridge we found that what appeared to be a relatively clear pathway for walking, was not.  Much brush and a lot of fallen and burnt timber from a fire a decade or so ago. In this arid climate there is little decomposition going on.  We found ourselves zig-zagging and climbing over logs the whole way up.

Bushwacking Our Way Up

As we neared the top, it became extremely windy, nearly impossible to keep hats on, and the gusts felt like they could blow me over. So we opted to skirt ridge itself on the leeward side to the south. As hoped, it was perfectly calm and sunny. Even though a nice cool day, on this side an outer layer of clothing needed to be shed. 

Leeward Side Looking East, The Canyon to the right looked very interesting, but had a steep slope into it.

We never saw any evidence of humans.  No trash, no tracks, no nothing.  Not surprising though. There is "nothing" special about this No-Name Ridge. As you can saw from the first picture, all around there are higher and "more interesting" hills to climb. There is just no reason to climb this hill. But we were having fun and enjoying the different perspective of the nearby places we are familiar with. For today there was to be no doubt: the journey not the destination, was what was to be enjoyed.

But there was a surprise which awaited us.  As you likely realize, from other posts, we love trees. We often talk about various trees we see and discuss what makes them special. As we neared the top a gnarly half-dead juniper came into view.  Now this is a special tree!  All around are dead burnt trees and logs.
  

This old masterpiece just seemed to proudly proclaim its existence, as it has laughed at death many times.  It's girth suggests it could be hundreds of years old.  Surviving in this inhospitable place, rocky, hot in day, cold nights and freezing in winter, hardly any water anytime of year and then surviving a fire.  Now this is a special tree!!

 It's open center and burn core seemed as if it could be a secret portal to world of Narnia. This needed to be examined more closely

Following the twisted grain we stick our heads in looking for the portal. Alas, not to be found by us.

.A few yards beyond the tree was the highest point on this ridge. When I checked the GPS I was surprised we had climbed one foot short of 480 feet. The hill hadn't seemed that high.  But later I confirmed via a topo map it was spot on.

The next choice was how to go back down.  Three options: 1) back the way we came; 2) down the north slope or 3) down into the canyon to the south.  We wanted something different, so 1) was out and the north slope was extremely windy, steep and with nothing of interest to explore. Thus into the canyon would be the route of choice to home.  There was a gentle slope down, maybe 20 feet then quite a steep sandy and rocky descent into the canyon head.  Taking our time, we made it to the head of the canyon, for our route back.

It wasn't but ten yards or so we were welcomed with what was the first of many, many obstacles. These obstacles were to provide various physical, yet fun, challenges: Climbing under logs, climbing over logs, ascending the hill a bit and traversing the extremely steep slope sideways, and up and down over boulders, etc. etc.

The further down we went the more committed became to this route.  Scaling either of the sides were impractical because of steepness and with each obstacle hurdled, the thought of going back and retracing became less reasonable.  Probably mid way down we found a nice filtered sun space to sit and enjoy our sandwiches.  We were very enclosed so no great vistas from here.  Eventually the downward slope eased and there was a corresponding reduction in the obstacles.  We also discovered a couple of formations which would produce a great waterfall, when a rare hard rain would come. As it flattened out we were in the midst of a forest.  We suddenly saw a shiny thing on the ground.  Alas, another mylar balloon.  When we picked up this "treasure of trash" to pack it out it crumbled in my fingers.  So it was probably very old, for a balloon.  We have observed many mylar balloons on our hikes, probably the single largest thing we have found, i.e. we have found very few beer cans.

Another Mylar Balloon!!!!

As we neared the end of the canyon, maybe a quarter mile or so from the river we came upon our last discovery of the day which saddened me.  We came across the vertebrae and both upper and lower jaws of a beaver.  It was obvious that the bones had not been here for "years", but rather probably months.  Thus, it is a reasonable guess that this was most likely the mate to the other beaver remains we found last summer. This was shortly after the river had dried up and exposed the beavers which we know were there.  Last summers remains were found less than a mile NE from here. That story is told here: [Dry Riverbed]

Beaver Remains

 It was a relatively easy stroll back to the truck.  This had been an SDS Trip [What is SDS?] for I doubt we shall ever return to the top of this No-Name ridge. While it had been a wonderful day of discovery and challenge, we are surrounded by so many other No-Name Ridges and hills and trails. For me it is the allure of the unknown, the adrenaline of the new challenges and for the great feeling of simple yet wonderful new discoveries.  So next time it will be to another place, but as I conclude this writing, I think it would be nice to one again visit our special Juniper and see how it is fareing.  Perhaps in a year or two or five.