Sunday, May 14, 2017

stranger things

Our trails have oddities. Remnants of mining operations and dam building have left debris scattered and hidden throughout our canyons.

But when a friend posted a photo of the flying barrels, I had to check that one out myself. And even better, it was less than two miles from my house (as the crow flies).

western fence lizard keeps watch

maybe for measuring water levels as the proposed lake would rise?

This canyon has so many trails, most not marked or noted on many maps, but only found by exploration, word of mouth, and in my case, adventuring to find those crazy barrels!

seriously purple: purple larkspur (I think)
Down, down, down. I knew approximately where the barrels were. There were other finds along the way. But then there they were, floating above our heads, so many barrels on a wire! Kegger at the river!

barrels hanging in the sky!

strange, right?

tree isn't letting go!
Fascinatingly strange. The only clues I can find are people commenting they are from the long-derailed dam construction (it was halted in the late 1970s). The barrels would have floated on the surface of the water, to keep boats from getting too close to the dam. If so, they were WAY ahead of themselves with this project!

river stop, making stacks
After a brief stop by the river, what goes down must come up: 1000 feet in about a mile. Luckily there were lots of wildflowers to use as an excuse to stop and take photos.

taking a breather: look, fringepod!

American River below
This cliffside trail has seen better days, this winter created a lot of erosion, and there are too many low hanging branches for me to want to take my tall horse on it. But some do, as there were occasional hoofprints! I was content on my own two feet to take in the view.

Pardner's rock: Huge granite monolith alongside the trail
But I saw a lot of cool side trails, with more places to explore. And hopefully more places for stranger things.

what goes down...

13 comments:

  1. I love that fringepod plant!
    You and Major have the most beautiful trails to ride - glad they're drying out for you. :D

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    1. I hadn't seen fringepod before, and had to research it! Tiny, and delicate, but so intricate and cool!

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  2. Those barrels are awesome! Kind of wonder what the horses would think if you rode under that.

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    1. I have a couple friends who have ridden this trail, horses don't seem to care. I'll try someday!

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  3. How NEAT. And I'm a little obsessed with the fringepod!

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    1. It's a delicate tiny plant, easy to miss, but now I'm looking for it everywhere!

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  4. Your trails are so rugged and beautiful. The barrels have me intrigued (and would make for some great desensitization for horses!) I wish we had lizards here!

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    1. Rugged for sure! I'm planning on adventuring down to the main barrel trail with Major, I'll let you know how that goes!

      You don't have lizards? How sad, I love them scurrying about. The one pictured, a western fence lizard, is good and bad: when lyme-disease carrying ticks feed on him then fall off, the ticks don't have lyme disease to pass on anymore, amazing! But also there are more ticks in areas where lizards are, so maybe it all comes out in the wash! I still like the little guys. Plus they have blue stomachs!

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    2. WHAT. Tell me or send me links that detail why ticks don't have Lyme after biting the lizard?! What chemical process is occurring to trigger this?! Sorry, scientist freak out moment haha

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    3. "In 1998, a pioneering study led by UC Berkeley entomologist Robert Lane found thata protein in the Western fence lizard’s blood killed Borrelia bacteria, and as a result, Lyme-infected ticks that feed on the lizard’s blood are cleansed of the disease-causing pathogen."

      Is UC Berkeley good enough? This link is to the newer study which talks about how yes, the disease is gone, but lizards bring more ticks to an area (hence why the lizards might not be so good, but damn cute):

      http://news.berkeley.edu/2011/02/15/ticks-lizard-lyme-disease/

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    4. see, stranger things abound here out West!

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    5. Totally works for me. WOW. Fascinating. Also, "... to determine whether they bore an uptick in ticks as a result of the lizards’ absence.." How many giggles do you think the author got weaving "uptick" into an article about "ticks", bonus points for it being in the same sentence.

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