Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

It actually rained a bit today. On that one hand it's odd to say actually because we're in the middle of what's supposed to be our rainy season here in California. On the other hand, it's been a ridiculously dry January. The tenth of an inch, a drizzle really, we got locally may be the first precipitation we've had all month.

We're in a La Niña weather pattern this winter. That means drier than average weather south of us and wetter than average to the north. What about here? We're kind of on the dividing line where it can shift either way. After a decent cumulative rainfall in November and December that had us about at average for the season to date we've now dropped to about half the normal-to-date average here in Central (yes, Central) California.

The northern third of the state is at average-plus, which is great for filling major reservoirs such as Shasta and Oroville, but Southern California is at a quarter or less of normal rainfall so far. You see one of the consequences of that dryness in the terrible fires that have burned in and around Los Angeles. Another consequence we might see in a few months is drought.

Meanwhile we're swinging back to wetter weather here in the SF Bay area. After the bit of rain today we'll have more tomorrow, then there's rain in the forecast on and off through the following weekend. It's kind of a bummer that I missed January's clear weather while staying inside the past few weeks. My mood was dreary even as the weather was not. Now the weather turns to dreary just as I'm hoping to snap out of it. Well, we need the rain. I'll take solace in that.

The Park Fire continues to burn in northern California, north of Chico and east of Red Bluff. As of Sunday evening it has burned 386,000 acres. That's over 600 square miles. It is now the 5th largest fire in modern California history.

Here's a map of the fire as of this evening from CalFire (click on image for link to source page):



The CalFire incident page for the Park Fire notes that there are over 5,700 personnel fighting this one fire. Firefighters are being pulled in from all over the state. When we were in Redding on Sunday afternoon, stopping for lunch while driving through, we chatted with a fire crew who'd just driven up from near where we live.

The size of the fire, at 386,000 acres as of this evening, hasn't grown much in the past 48 hours. Authorities say that's because the hot weather in the area that last through Friday broke on Saturday. With cooler temperatures and more humidity in the air, the fire has spread more slowly. This has also enabled crews to start containing it— though as of this evening it's still only 18% contained.

Miraculously there are no deaths reported from this fire. Thousands of people have had to evacuate homes, though. To their credit, and to the credit of authorities managing the situation, people were moved to safety quickly. I'm sure plenty of people in the areas impacted remember the tragedy of the 2018 fire that burned the town of Paradise. There, even a half day of "The fire can't possibly spread over here that fast!" meant that when evacuations orders did come, there was pandemonium and dozens of people died.

We started the day today in Redding, California, having driven here last night. On the drive up through the Central Valley we marveled at the smoke cloud rising miles high in the sky in the distance. It's from the Park Fire, which is burning near Chico. This morning there was another reminder of the fire still burning out of control:



This was the view out our window this morning. Surprisingly the air doesn't smell smoky. That means the smoke's not here yet; it's just forming a wall in the sky to the east of here. FWIW, if you turn around 180° the sky looks pretty normal. To the west there's blue sky, and you can see the mountains in the distance clearly.

The hotel was sold out last night. There are numerous fire crews staying here, not to mention people evacuating from east of here. I spoke to a woman over breakfast who spend most of the night driving back and forth to her house, grabbing as many things as she could stuff in her car each time as long as the police would let her in, and driving it to Redding to stash with friends.

BTW, the Park Fire has now grown to over 350,000 acres, making it one of the biggest fires in California state history.

Saturday we hiked Fresno Dome in the Sierra National Forest. It was part of our hiking two-fer. After starting the day in Chowchilla, the result of our Friday Night Halfway drive, we drove up into the Sierra foothills, hiked at Angel Falls near Oakhurst, then drove up into the high Sierra to the trailhead for Fresno Dome



This trailhead is a fun jumping-off point for reaching a peak. It's only about a mile each way to/from Fresno Dome from here, and the trailhead is already pretty high in elevation. At around 7,400' here at the trailhead the peak is not quite 300' higher.



Oddly for being at such high elevation already, one of the first things we did on the trail was go squishing through a wet meadow. I mean, you'd think of pooling water being down low, not up high. But meadows are a natural part of the environment, and this one was under snow until not that long ago this year. We marveled at the colorful wildflowers as we carefully picked our steps across it.



With the tough winter weather up here come fallen trees. Heavy snows and strong winds knock them down. Come the spring, rangers and volunteers try to cut away the worst obstructions to make the trail passable again. In a few places we had to climb over fallen trees that hadn't been cleared yet. At times like that we wondered if we were still on the trail.... Then we'd see a spot like this (in the picture above) and it'd be clear that, yes, this is the trail. I mean, sawn logs like these are an even clearer trail sign than a literal sign saying "Trail". 😂



The trail climbs a small rocky dome about 1/2 mile in. You might almost think, "Woohoo, this is it!" And you'd be mistaken. It's merely the point at which you can see Fresno Dome. It looks all remote and forbidding there in the background. We even wondered, "Do we have enough energy to go all the way?" as the thin air up here about 7,500' was starving our sea-level-acclimated lungs of oxygen. But we knew the peak was not as far as it looks, so we continued on.

Where There's Smoke There's Fire. Somewhere.

Another thing you might notice in the photo above is that the sky looks pale. That's because there was significant wildfire smoke in the sky on Saturday. We noticed it as we were driving into the foothills from Chowchilla. The smoke lingered as we drove further northeast up to Oakhurst and grayed out the sky above us while we hiked Angel Falls. "Where's the fire?" we wondered— literally! At Angel Falls a fellow hiker explained that there's a wildfire burning just east of Fresno. That's 50 miles away!

We hoped as we were driving up the mountain to Fresno Dome that we'd get clear of the smoke. That's not a crazy hope; it's a real thing that smoke often hangs lower in the atmosphere, and driving up over 7,000' is often enough to get above it. Indeed there were points on the drive where it seemed the sky was getting bluer... until it got gray again.

With climate change, wildfires are occurring more frequently and also become more severe when they do occur. Part of our surprise about the breadth of the effect of this wildfire, with its 50+ mile radius of smoke, is that we hadn't seen it reported anywhere in the news. Not that long ago a fire like this would be statewide news, even national news. Now it seems we need to look up local what's-on-fire-today conditions the same way we look up a weather forecast. 😰

Keep reading: Atop Fresno Dome & Back Down

North Cascades Travelog #15
Winthrop WA - Mon, 4 Sep 2023, 5pm.

This afternoon is where we come up short because the hikes we wanted to do in North Cascades National Park are on fire. The past few days we were able to do other hikes instead... but those were hikes we were going to do anyway, in addition to (at least) two trails in the park. We just skipped the hikes in the burn area and did the others. So this afternoon we have half a day left and nowhere else on our list to go hiking. Nowhere else that's not closed, covered with smoke, and at risk fire.

We're skilled at finding alternatives, though. Part of traveling a lot is gaining a lot of experience at finding alternatives when one plan gets foreclosed for whatever reason. Because unexpected closures do happen. It can be bad weather, delayed flights, construction closures, fire, hurricanes, death riders; you name it, we've probably had to route around it.



With nowhere else to go this afternoon we decided to stay put. Stay put at the hotel, that is. The Abby Creek Inn (where we're staying 3 nights) has a nice pool area in the central courtyard. The photo above shows the swimming pool. The water feels a bit cool today with air temps in the low 70s. It was probably more relaxing a few days ago when the weather spiked to around 90. Instead of the pool we took a soak in the hot tub.

After the hot tub we decided to go sit down by the river. Well, I decided to sit; Hawk went rock-hopping.



BTW, no, this is not Abby Creek. It's the Methow River. I don't think there is a namesake waterway for the Abby Creek Inn. And the inn doesn't even make a big deal out of this bit of riverfront land. It's beyond the back parking lot, past a terraced slope. There are two picnic tables but they aren't that close to the water. I grabbed the chair I'm sitting in from the edge of the parking lot, where it seemed like it was left as junk.

We hung out at the river for a few hours. Hawk rock-hopped up and down the river while I relaxed and enjoy the scenery, water bottle (and later two cans of beer) in hand. It was a good way to spend the afternoon. And I didn't even miss hiking all that much. I'm kind of stiff from all the hikes that's haven't been on fire the past few days.

North Cascades Travelog #8
Mazama, WA - Sun, 3 Sep 2023, 1pm.

What do you do when the trails you wanted to hike are on fire? You find somewhere safer to hike! Fortunately we'd already made a list of several trails we wanted to hike in the area, so after crossing off the top few there were still 3-4 left. Tops on this list is the Cedar Creek Trail to Cedar Falls.



We started the hike under graying skies. Partly it's because there's cloud cover building over the North Cascades (it would rain lightly late in the afternoon) and partly it's because there's wildfire smoke lingering high in the sky. Still, rays of sunlight would occasionally break through.



While fires are still burning (or at least smoldering) higher up in the mountains west of here, this area shows fire damage— from a fire that burned 2 or 3 years ago. Some of the bigger trees survived the fire. The smaller ones were reduced to charred husks, if they weren't burned entirely as the undergrowth was. But one aspect of fire is that it's part of a natural regrowth cycle. With the old forest canopy mostly gone, wildflowers and bushes have regrown rapidly.

There's one particular wildflower we're seeing a lot on the trail today that I haven't been able to identify. It's got small, purple flowers late in the season and plentiful wisps that have turned into cottony, dandelion-like puffs. Hawk said it's Russian thistle weed, but none of the pictures I've found online match what this plant looks like. (Among other things, Russian thistle seems to grow in ground-hugging clumps, while this wildflower grows in stems 3-4 feet high.)

As pleasurable as it was to walk among the wildflowers, our main reason for the hike was to see Cedar Creek Falls. Oddly it's not marked on the trail! But after about 2 miles of hiking we could hear the din of water falling not far off the trail, so we followed a use trail to explore it.



This is what I'll call Middle Falls on Cedar Creek. As I've explored around the rocky perches above the creek I've spotted a cascade and a smaller falls upstream, and another, larger-seeming falls downstream. It's time to do some more exploring to see if we can get to them— stay tuned!

Update: pictures of falls galore in my next blog!

North Cascades Travelog #11
Winthrop, WA - Sun, 3 Sep 2023, 9pm.

We're wrapping up Day 2 of our Labor Day weekend North Cascades trip. As with yesterday's wrap-up blog I'm posting this ahead of blogs from earlier today. Those will take longer to post as I need to touch up the pictures.

So, what did we do today? First, for a "North Cascades Travelog" today we were actually in North Cascades National Park. But only a bit, because it's on fire. We drove up there anyway in case the fires are out and some of the trails are open. The road was open— though with one-way traffic near the summit. The trails were still closed. We drove up to the Washington Pass summit, took some pictures, and came back down the mountain.

On the way back toward Winthrop we visited to Cedar Creek Falls. It's a great hike that was already on our list anyway— just something we thought we'd do after hiking some of the trails that are now closed due to fire. The hike took more out of us than we expected but we pressed on to make the most of the day.

In the afternoon we hiked at Boulder Creek Falls. It's about 7 miles north of Winthrop. It's neither as big as Cedar Creek Falls nor as well marked. In fact it's not even marked at all. We parked at an unsigned turnout on a Forest Service road and scrambled down use trails and splashed through a creek. It was fun enough to momentarily forget how achy I was.

We tried adding one more hike late in the day. After Boulder Creek we drove out to the trailhead for Falls Creek Falls (yes, that's really its repetitive name) and considered hiking it. The trail is only about 1/2 mile roundtrip and involves little ascent... but by that we were really tired, and the sky was turning gloomy with bits of drizzle.

We drove back through town and got dinner before returning to the hotel. Back at the hotel this evening we have been so tired. Last night we enjoyed winding down with a dip in the hot tub.... Tonight I just wanted to shower to clean up and relax. I'm wiped. I'll be in bed before 10.

Monday morning I was awoken by the sun blazing through the windows of our corner room at the hotel in Eugene Oregon. It was only 6am— a terrible time to have to wake up on a long holiday weekend, right? Actually, no. Getting up early didn't suck because there was a lot I wanted to do. Monday would be a long day of hiking waterfalls in the Cascades then driving back up to Portland for the night.

From Eugene we headed south on I-5 toward Roseburg then skirted around town to State Highway 138 climbing up into the mountains. It wasn't long until we reached the trailhead of the first hike on my list, Susan Creek Falls.



The trail to Susan Creek starts in a burned area. Most of the trees still standing are dead, though in the years since the fire shrubs have thrived. We passed by a lot of wild berry bushes... and poison oak. The trail zig-zags up the side of a hill for a bit before cutting around a corner into the Susan Creek canyon. Here, as you can see in the photo above, some of the taller trees survived the fire.



Once around the bend it's a pleasant walk of another 0.5 mile or so to the falls at the back of the canyon. The trek is just 1.5 miles round trip with an ascent of about 200 feet. Susan Creek Falls pours over a rock ledge and drops about 50'.



The trail offers both a small vista partway up the right side of the hill in front of the falls and a little picnic area below the foot. I found the best viewpoint (above) by going to the lower area then hopping over a few rocks and downed trees to get closer to the falls.

Earlier today I began sharing my opinions about the statewide propositions on the ballot in California. See Ballot Propositions - Nov 2022 - part 1. Here in part 2 I address the latter four props on this November's ballot.

Prop 28: Lock in Funding for K-12 Arts and Music: Gentle No.

A few days ago I wrote blog entry The Problems with Propositions. Prop 28 is exactly the sort of measure I had in mind when I explained the trouble with props that lock in spending requirements. The bill would ensure a certain baseline amount of funding for K-12 arts and music education. To be sure, supporting such education programs is a worthy goal. And because of that it may well pass. I mean, who could be against teaching art and music to kids? But here's the thing: a vote against this initiative is not a vote against art. It's a vote against tying the hands of state legislators in the budgeting process.

This year California's budget spends nearly $100,000,000 on K-12 education, an average of $17,000 per student. For context: yes, that's a lot. And it's a lot partly because the state has enjoyed strong tax revenues for several years. But strong revenues are not a given. During an economic slowdown— of the sort that most economists, business leaders, and even ordinary citizens are predicting will happen next year if not sooner— California's tax revenues fall. Legislators then face tough choices in where to allocate funds. Each voter-passed initiative that locks in funding for one item or another makes the decisions about where to spend the remaining money more dire. Lock-ins for art and music may mean that school programs for language suffer... or perhaps that programs for supporting the elderly or combating climate change get short shrift.

Again, I recognize that supporting art and music education is a sympathetic choice. The only problem I have with this bill is that it's a funding lock-in. That's why I'm calling my position a Gentle No on 28.

Prop 29: Dialysis Clinic Regulation: No.

Patients who need kidney dialysis face dire straits. Shouldn't the industry that keeps them alive be better regulated? Don't be fooled; that's not what this is about.

This initiative matches at least 2 of the 5 proposition problems I described the other day. First, regulation in an industry that is a matter of life-or-death for certain individuals is a deeply detailed bit of policy that  shouldn't be left to ordinary citizens to enact on strict up-or-down votes.

Second— and more importantly— this is a special-interest, self-dealing initiative in disguise. Follow the money to see who is bankrolling this and understand why. Funding comes almost entirely from the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West union, which has been fighting with the two major providers of kidney dialysis over workers' contracts for years. This is now the second time in recent years the SEIU has gone to the ballot box in an attempt to gain extra leverage in negotiations. I support unions fighting for fair pay, benefits, and working conditions. I do not support them misleading voters at the ballot box to win what they cannot win in equal party negotiations. Vote No on 29.

Prop 30: Tax the Rich to Fight Wildfires and Climate Change: No.

Ah, Prop 30, another measure with a worthy-seeming set of goals. Wildfires are already a very destructive phenomenon in California, costing billions annually, destroying homes and habitat, and often causing deaths. Who could be opposed to reducing the risk of wildfires? Especially since as bad as they are now they're expected to get worse as a result of climate change.... Which this measure nominally also fights. Who but climate deniers doesn't want to fight climate change? And who better to soak with the bill for all of this than California's highest income citizens, those making over $2 million per year?

Alas, Prop 30 is another case of a moneyed special interest looking to do itself a favor at taxpayer expense while using a noble goal as a disguise. Follow the money and you'll see: a) the measure's main sponsor is ride-share company Lyft, and b) the measure's main expenditure is subsidizing purchase of electric cars and the construction and operation of recharging stations. How does (b) relate to (a)? California recently passed a law requiring all new cars sold be electric by 2035. Lyft depends on a huge fleet of vehicles... which it wants taxpayers to subsidize its contractor-employees buying & refueling.

Look, I'm all in favor of vehicle electrification. And I don't like wildfires or climate change. But this tax-the-rich-to-subsidize-a-huge-company measure is the wrong way to further either of those goals. It's a flawed and self-dealing initiative. Vote No on 30.

Prop 31: Uphold Law Banning Flavored Tobacco: Yes.

Prop 31 is a referendum... Instead of being an initiative proposing to create a new law, it is an initiative allowing citizens to veto an existing law. Many voters feel confused and irritated by so many props each year that they take a stance of "I'm just going to vote No on everything!" This is one of the cases where that mindset is misplaced. With a referendum a Yes vote upholds an existing law and a No vote removes it.

What's the law at stake here? 2020 the California legislature approved, and the governor signed into law, a bill banning the sale of certain flavored tobacco products. Cigarette smoking is a major public health hazard generally speaking, and flavored tobacco products have repeatedly been shown to appeal to underage smokers, hooking kids on a destructive, lifetime habit. It's important to attempt funded by the tobacco industry (again, follow the money) to veto our laws— and to do that voters must vote YES on 31.

As I've been surfing through news about the Caldor Fire forcing evacuations around Lake Tahoe (link to previous blog) a few photos have really stuck with me. One's this one, of Emerald Bay:


AP Photo / Rich Pedroncelli

The picture is from a few days ago, before the mandatory evacuation order came down. Note the fires are not at Lake Tahoe. Even today they're still a few miles away from the lake, and days ago they were further out, but they are still sending considerable smoke over the area.

Here's an example of what Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe looks like normally:



This picture (above) is from a hiking trip to Eagle Falls in June 2019.

The picture below is from a hike up to Granite Lake in August 2019:



(Why 2019 pics and none from 2020? Coronavirus, yo! Lake Tahoe was even closed to visitors at times last year.)