Off on a solo 3-nite hike.

[Drew Wiley]

Although pronghorn antelope were abundant and hunted in Indian days, they were extinct in that area by my childhood, so I didn't know what that term meant. I did know "cantaloupe", since we grew and ate a lot of them, but the deer got to them too, so I made that association. And although we were surrounded by rangeland, one of the nearest neighbors up on the hill was the ranger station. It's really fun remembering my own word associations as a preschooler. Perhaps the funniest was hearing in Sunday School the hymn, "Bringing in the Thieves". I couldn't figure out what Church and Police work had in common.

[Michael R]

Solo 3-nite hike sounds like the title of the next true crime youtube mystery I watch. Either that or one of those asmr off-grid videos.

[John Kasaian]

Safe travels!
It sounds like a fun trip Vaughn.

[Vaughn]

"Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them cantalopes rollin'...french fries!"

Back safe and as sound (mentally?) as I ever get these days. Did not hit the trail until about about 5pm. Saw no one after leaving the trailhead until I was hiking back up the trail 4 days late. Saw one boot print up the creek -- I believe a biologist/hydrologist type person had hiked in the previous week to install a couple of stream monitors (temp recorders).

More water in the creek than I than imagined...made the many creek crossings interesting. Sometimes hip-deep and moving fast...had myself a good alder pole to keep me upright. And since I was heading up the creek, it a bit tiring working against the current. High water kept me from hiking up as far as originally planned...hung out in an incredible place where a side creek comes into Redwood Creek. Being solo, 68, and tired, I saw no good reason to push myself by getting a little further up the creek where the crossings get narrower and the water faster. Getting swept down creek and getting my camera stuff wet would just ruin my day and make for a lousy night.

A light touch of rain the second night (great moon the other nights). By the time I hiked out yesterday, the creek had dropped almost a foot, slowed down a bunch, and hiking out with the flow was pretty easy.

We'll see what I get photographically. Exposed 16 sheets of film...might get zero...should have tested the film before taking it out in the wilds -- unopened box of 100 sheets of 4125 (dated 10/1999). I have forgotten when and where I got it and how long it has been in my fridge! I'll load some a few in the Jobo 3006 drum tonight and see what I got. I was expecting over-cast weather for most of the time -- got far more sunshine. I had brought the Kodak copy film to boost contrast...

Too bad my little digital camera died. The rhododendrons are at their peak, flowers covering the trail...

[Tin Can]

Glad you had fun!

[Deyoung]

Sounds like a great trip.

[Hugo Zhang]

What an adventure!

[Bernice Loui]

Earlier this year, the Coastside hill where covered with yellow mustard plants.




BTW, carbon prints made by Vaughn are gorgeous,
Bernice

The rhododendrons are at their peak, flowers covering the trail...

[Drew Wiley]

Huge swaths of yellow daisies and native large beautiful dandelions all over the coastal hills now. I was out on Olema Ridge this past Wed, and it was quite a challenge waiting for breaks in the wind; but that is pretty much to be expected in June. I did manage one color 4X5 shot and one b&w one. Nice cloud formations that afternoon. We have huge fields of mustards on this side of the Bay much earlier in the season. But the only wildflower shot I printed so far this year involved some very intricate tracery of goldfields on a bare drought-afflicted clay hillside in the southern Coast Range around Avenal. I'm after the complex interplay of neutrals with just the right amount of added intricate "spice', and not any kind of postcardish theme. Less is more.

[Vaughn]

For fun and future reference, I checked out the recorded water flow of Redwood Creek.

The early morning of the day I started my hike the creek was at 12.7' and 800 cfs, but by the time I hiked down to the creek and started hiking up it, it was down to 12.5' and 650 cfs. From that info, I am very glad I did not get an earlier start that day! The day before it was up to 1100 cfs and there would have been no way I'd be able to cross and get up the creek.

The hike out was at 11.9' and only 375 cfs. Good info for me for my next adventure up there!

For reference major peak flows (max floods) are around 50,000 cfs...summertime it can be below 100 cfs.