Smoke...no Joke!

Two Saturdays ago, on June 21, thunderstorms rolled across Northern and Central California. They came from the southwest. This is extremely rare for this time of year; June thunderstorms are very rare in any case, and if they do fire up they would normally come from the southeast in an early monsoon flow from Arizona. Why did they occur on this occasion? Who knows? In the weather business I just call such occurrences FM...which means, uh, freakin' magic. At any rate. the storms started a whopping 800 fires! There has been no significant rain since February, so Cali is bone dry. Naturally, once the fires flared up Murphy's law prevailed and the wind flow into Monterey shifted to southeasterly, which blew massive amounts of smoke into the 'hood from big fires near Big Sur and Arroyo Seco. So, in late afternoon I was able to aim my camera right at the sun and take a good picture of the smoke stifled sphere trying to cast a fitful light on the scene as ashes rained down like snow. Essentially the entire northern two thirds of California was smoked in last week. The smoke is abating slightly this week, but with the next significant rain probably four months in the future, it looks like we will have constant fires and smoke throughout the summer and early fall.

Lizards in the Delta

Hven't been traveling much lately, but I did undertake fog evasion for a couple days last week. Went to Fresno and saw a Grizzlies' Pacific Coast League game; they're the Giants' triple A farm team. This month I have seen all three of the Giants' California teams; the Grizzlies; the Giants themselves; and their single A farm team in San Jose. The ballpark in Fresno is very nice; right downtown, fine concessions ( foot long corn dogs!!) and excellent sight lines with three decks and even bleachers...not always present in minor league parks. After inexplicably attending no baseball games last year, I've been to seven games in six different parks so far this year...two spring training games in Arizona; two Giants' games; and three minor league games. That's more like it!

After a night in Fresno I went up to the Delta and hung with my friend The Sandster. The lizards insisted on coming along...they were sick of the fog too...and here they are on The Sandster's deck.

Coastal Vistas

This coastal scene is in northern Mendocino county, north of Fort Bragg. This is a remote area, near the Lost Coast just to the north. Highway 1 winds...and we do mean winds...past farms, along cliffs, through fields of wildflowers, and covers a spectacular stretch of shoreline.







Queen Anne's lace is normally a mundane plant, but in the coastal forest under the right light, it's beautiful.












Farther south, on the Marin headlands, the hills plunge into the sea. You enjoy spectacular views of the ocean, the cliffs, and... San Francisco!

Hangin' in the Redwoods

Last month I went north into Humboldt county after my week at the Sea Ranch. This is a classic picture that I thought I had blogged before, but I can't find it in past posts. The Solara is in the town of Weott, on what used to be the main drag. However, in 1964 the Eel River flooded just a bit. Blow up the pic and you can see that there is a high water marker on the pole just to the right of the car, about 30 feet up. Incredibly, this marks the flood crest! It occurred around Christmas that year, and wiped downtown Weott off the map. The town was rebuilt higher up the hill to the right. I don't remember the exact number, but the river was at least 50 feet above flood stage! It's off to the left of the picture...and way down an embankment. For an account of the same flood in the Portland OR area, reference the posts from July 2007.



This pic is actually in Mendocino county, on the Little River in Van Damme State Park. The trail goes for miles into the heart of the forest, through beautiful and peaceful second growth redwoods. About two miles in there is a trail camp where you can pitch a tent by the river in a fine setting.















Now here are the BIG trees. This is Humboldt Redwoods State Park, near Bull Creek west of the Eel. This is the largest grove of old growth redwoods in the world...and of course redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. So if you want to see a lot of really tall trees, this is the place. The trees evoke majesty, awe, and peace. Many in this grove are over 300 feet tall.