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The Lady's
school year usually ends in a whirlwind. Last week was the County Middle
Schools Track Trials followed by the Finals on Friday afternoon. I drive down
and help in the booth by giving out metals to the winning young athletes. The
Lady is the voice announcing. A big crew of teachers and coaches help run the
field events and races. It is a long, tiring, and rewarding afternoon lasting
to around 8:00 with the clean up and organizing the results.
Past our
bedtime found us with the group celebrating the end of track season with dinner
at a local Chinese restaurant. We sat across from Bill, a teacher at another
school.
"Did
you do Skyscraper this year?" the Lady asked.
Bill
replied, "A month ago. I'd guess the flow is getting too low to run
now."
Bill is an
expert and avid whitewater kayaker.
"If we
get our around the house chores done by early afternoon, we are taking a quick hike up tomorrow to get out of the
house." I explained.
We live in
an area chalked full of destination outdoor attractions. People come here for
their trip of the year or trip of a lifetime. The popular places during the
busy times, we stay clear of. But like so many areas, there are secret special
places, treasures, that for us, are only a few minutes away.
Our friend
Jim was here a bit after one Saturday afternoon. We piled into the Lady's Subaru
and headed out to visit a small creek that cascades down a granite gorge in
such a way the best in the world come to test their skill every spring with the
snow melt.
An unmarked
use trail works its way up the canyon.
It doesn't
look much different than so many other Sierra streams.
The Lady and
Jim watched an American Dipper on its rock above the final drop of a run called
"Plastic Surgery."
It is indeed
spring time in the mountains.
The creek's
gradient is steep with drop after drop after drop.
In places it
is necessary to climb high through the brush on steep granite.
The Lady led
the way up to the overlook for Skyscraper. We found two kayakers from the Reno
area.
Skyscraper
is a crushing series of falls.
At this low
flow the current on the last drop can pull a boater into a alcove cave on river
right. Because of this the two boaters decided to not take the risk and
portaged skyscraper.
They scouted
the runs below.
There are
several videos up on YouTube illustrating boaters taking on the challenge.
Except in
the spring, it is usually lonely here, a wonderful place just to hang out, hear
the song of the creek below, and watch bald eagles soar above.
We pulled
out snacks and water and enjoyed the dripping spring on the opposite canyon
wall..................
..................as
we were surrounded by the cascading creek.
Delicate
flowers caught our eye as we worked our way back down to the car.
Far below us
the Lady spotted this smooth hole bored through granite.
You probably
have figured out her next action............................
What you
can't tell from the photo is that the rock slab overhangs another cascade. It was not
easy to get to or back out from. The Lady managed.
One of our heralds
of spring is the Snow Flower.
We took our
time wandering back down the creek.
This was the
best way to relax after a productive day of chores and a very busy work week.
Looks like you had a great afternoon. I can almost hear the creek!
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