After the exploratory tour of the red ridge, Vernon and I rode our usual trail up the mountain to see how far we could make it before mud and/or snow turned us around. Two weeks or so ago, we had made it to the “top”, also known locally as “Bobby’s Corrals”. While at the same elevation as our property, the four miles left to cross to it was littered with snowdrifts. We stopped. Since then it has rained and snowed, but we give it a shot once again and see how far we’d make it this time.
We made it as far as “Wyoma’s Homestead”, who was Vernon’s great-aunt.
That’s her homestead to the left of the tree. Riddled with snow banks, the entire area was wet and flowing. With the wind, it sounded so much like the ocean! Spring runoff was EVERYWHERE. You can see a bit of a “creek” in the photo. It’s normally dry there.
Vernon decided to try to go a bit farther. From this point on, any surface with a dip in it was flowing water. A rocky timber patch where you wouldn’t even think of there being water up there, had little rivulets chasing across the stones.
Hammer Creek, in the summer a mild little stream that’s often dried up by August, was rocking and rolling with its culverts almost completely full and running over the top of the road.
Let me tell you, if people built little reservoirs up here, they’d be capturing SO MUCH water this year! Or they’d be washing out, one of the two! We really haven’t seen it act like this. We were still a mile and a half from Bobby’s Corrals, but we turned around.
Then today, we awoke to rain… and plenty of it. It dumped on us, finally stopping at 1.3”. Where average yearly rainfall is about 14”, 1.3” is a bucket load! It cleared off this afternoon and evening, but I now hear rain once again on my roof. All of this is working down the mountain and Little Canyon Creek and the Nowood River are at the tippy tops of their banks, and on my way to work in the morning, I’ll check out which spots will be flooding over night.
There’s no doubt, once it warms up, there will be plenty of grass growing!
Find me here!
This year has been unreal with rain. Even here in normally drought ridden Southern California, we’ve had loads of rain. It’s great for growing greenery which in my yard is weeds.
.What is the cute little vehicle you’re in?