And a new fire in northern CA. This one started right near the Eel River Workstation (USFS) that I worked out of for all the 1980s. It seems to be making new due to the name of the road it started on...Indian Dick Road.
And a new fire in northern CA. This one started right near the Eel River Workstation (USFS) that I worked out of for all the 1980s. It seems to be making new due to the name of the road it started on...Indian Dick Road.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
I just drove up Indian Dick Road in June to go backpacking. At the end of the road is Indian Dick Station, where there is an old log cabin (once occupied by a native American named Richard (so the official USFS story goes) and barn where we kept the stock and equipment to do trail work in the wilderness.
At the end of the road is Soldier Ridge Trailhead. From what I understand, it was one of the routes they used to force-march natives to the Round Valley Reservation (largest in CA).
Along what is now Indian Dick Road, one does pass by a rather phallic-looking rock.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Where I grew up, the Indians were gradually assimilated rather than subdued. They sometimes went to work for ranchers and took on their names, either first or last. So I knew people with legal names like Stanley Bill, Harvey Fred, and Jim Dandy. Otherwise, I won't add any fuel to Vaughn's observation other than saying my own collection of artifacts does contain some unambiguous soapstone fertility objects.
July 2018 in Death Valley was the hottest ever recorded on Earth (for the second year in a row!): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.32c9c45b9434
Thomas
That's erroneous. Hotter temps, in the 135 deg range, have repeatedly been measured at salt flats in the Great Rift Valley in Africa, likewise at a location below sea level. Distinctly hotter temps have even been officially measured in Death Valley than what the Post lists - and there the thermometer or instrument is deliberately shaded, and not in open sun. What they seems to be ambiguously implying refers to avg temps over a period of days, but I doubt they even have that correct. Sloppy reporting. But if you're disappointed just stick around awhile longer - we're headed back to the Pliocene. Back then, Death Valley was a lot like East Africa, with camels (like salt traders use), horses instead of zebras (Pliohippus), titanotheres instead of rhinoceros, lions, and flamingoes - a multitude of their tracks still appear on sandstone walls from ancient lakebeds. But Death Valley wasn't a sunken graben yet, nor had the early Sierra uplift created much of a rain shadow yet, so that kind of superheated climate was pretty much characteristic of pre-California in general. And the projected 5 deg change in global climate (a conservative educated guess) will easily get us there. Stock up on sunscreen.
During my last visit to DV (1980's) I thought I saw a monument stating 136F deg way back in the 30's (as highest temp) ?. Perhaps my memory is playing tricks ? Maybe it's the heat mirage :>). Dry heat can be overrated and anything over 130F is miserable. I have experienced 131 deg at Nellis, but that's another story. These days 80's is bit much to take and I wonder how folks take anything over 100F deg....and folks in SJ Valley (and other places on earth) tolerate this for months.
Les
Easy enough to look up. But I think the official record at Badwater was 134 deg in the shade. Ironically, Death Valley was not affected by this recent heat wave to the extent of other areas in the Southwest, where quite a few local records were broken. Here on the SF Bay it's been downright cold and windy as usual in Summer - what we call our natural air conditioning. Death Valley itself can sometimes become a cold sink, generally in Dec. But there was one August when my toothpaste froze in the middle of my pack up in the high country above Bishop, around 12,000 ft. So I headed out as the blizzard hit. It actually shut down Hwy 395 due to heavy snowfall just past Bishop at around 5,000 ft elevation - something that rarely happens that low even in winter. So I drove to Death Valley to get warm, and actually had to wear a light coat down there in August, when the roads are typically so hot they melt shoe rubber!
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