Ash Canyon

The peaks were shrouded all day in clouds, but the clouds didn't get dark until mid-afternoon. I stayed home today, but at 2:30pm decided to take all four dogs to Ash Canyon Creek. I hadn't been there in a while and wanted to see if there was still water in the creek after the storm from ten days ago.

There was water in the upper creek. Water in the lower creek was covered with a new and thick layer of creek bed sand. What concerned me more was the erosion. There is even more erosion in the creek bed from several years ago! There are ruts four feet deep, and boulders piled higher. Sammy had a hard time jumping over the big rocks and I tried to keep him on as level ground as possible.

We kept walking uphill in the rocky creek bed. There were a few puddles of water, some held together as little ponds by the sand around them, but the dogs' paws broke those puddles open like little dams bursting open and its water flowing downhill. It was 2:30pm and I figured we'd be gone an hour. We were gone twice that long, meandering around and along the creek, hoping over boulders, climbing over snags or around brush. I didn't even recognize the place, some parts were heavily overgrown with herbaceous plants or covered in debris. Years before the 2011, this was a quiet, secluded place to walk the dogs unless the target shooters were out there. Now is boulders and burned trees.

We made it to the old target shooting place and even that place was hard to recognize. Whatever junk was left there by target shooters had been pushed downhill and into the debris. The grass has overgrown and the dirt mound has eroded into the creek bed. Green trees got uprooted and are now part of the creek bed. Water was running well here, and the dogs got their water before I opted to go back via the road to give Sammy less pain. This three-mile walk was his physical limit, much as it was Sara's those last few years of her life. I stayed with him while the three young dogs ran ahead. I was deep in thought with Carol's health, worried about what her biopsy would reveal. She has 28 cats, many with special needs that will need special homes. If the news next week reveals a cancer stronger than stage one, we may have to come up with a viable emergency plan. Her husband can't take care of all those cats AND their dogs by himself.

It was so quiet here. No trucks came by, no one was shooting. The ban on shooting is still in effect, but I soon discovered why there were no cars: the road was washed out at the first creek bed, dropping into the creek by at least four feet. It's impassable! Two full-sized pick-ups with older men were on the other side of the creek and had to turn around. Turns out the men had bypassed the four barriers but had to turn around anyway!

The force of nature is impressive in this canyon. Ash took a heavy brunt in the 2011 and the water flow in this canyon continues to tear away at the creek bed. It's getting wider, and also more boulders are coming downstream. This makes the creek bed more of an obstacle than an easy, sandy walk. Much effort will be needed to repair this road for the hunters.

We got back to the house at 4:30pm. Kevin was already home. While the sky got darker to our west, it never rained overhead, although more severe storms are expected later this weekend. I'm liking this rain, and I don't mind if this means a cooler autumn rain, as we need this moisture for a while to help fight our drought. But I'd like to see California get some of this as well, as its northern regions are hurting badly from wildfires. So many places that I visited during my last road trip are now gone.