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Waterways and Big Trees *
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Listening: Molasses' gentle snoring
Enjoying: tree pretty, water pretty }:>
This area is a little bit north and east of the Great Central Valley of California. If you are unaware, the Central Valley produces more food than any other agricultural area in the world.
Most of the Gold Country is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, generally between 1000 and 5000 feet up. A lot of water flows through the area, but it's still a bit arid (compared to other mountinous areas with permanant bodies of water). This allows for the largest living creatures to thrive for lifetimes that are often multiple centuries: The giant sequoias of Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
(The same wet winters and hot summers allow for great wine growing at lower elevation - the Big Trees are at Ponderosa level, 4000 to 7000 feet, and get snows that would kill the vineyards.)
The waters start small in the Sierras:
and end up big when feeding the land:
(That was the Stanislaus, first high up in Big Trees SP and then on its way to Fresno and the Central Valley.)
And there are rivers that seem legendary to the schoolchildren of California and are almost a let down to see in real life:
The American River
The American flows a little south, but mostly west to join the Sacramento River. which deltas into the San Francisco Bay (yep the Bay reaches pretty deep inland).
This bridge over the Sacramento River is indeed swung out at 90 degrees, permitting the paddleboat I was on to pass by. It was really kinda neat.
But back to the Sierras and those Big Trees.
These pines line the road into the state park and I thought they stood at attention like sentinels. Turns out, that's what they're called. Sentinels.
"Here in the West we're livin' in the best..."
The ponderosa...
did I say Big Trees? Oh, I meant Big ASS Trees:
More than 250 feet up, about 25 feet in diameter. Easily over 3000 years old.
Big ass trees? More like Goddamned Big Ass-Kicking Motherfuckers Made of Wood. Right.
This tree is still alive. Almost all of the giants have burn marks. They almost wouldn't be able to survive without fire.
Astounding.
Enjoying: tree pretty, water pretty }:>
This area is a little bit north and east of the Great Central Valley of California. If you are unaware, the Central Valley produces more food than any other agricultural area in the world.
Most of the Gold Country is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, generally between 1000 and 5000 feet up. A lot of water flows through the area, but it's still a bit arid (compared to other mountinous areas with permanant bodies of water). This allows for the largest living creatures to thrive for lifetimes that are often multiple centuries: The giant sequoias of Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
(The same wet winters and hot summers allow for great wine growing at lower elevation - the Big Trees are at Ponderosa level, 4000 to 7000 feet, and get snows that would kill the vineyards.)
The waters start small in the Sierras:
and end up big when feeding the land:
(That was the Stanislaus, first high up in Big Trees SP and then on its way to Fresno and the Central Valley.)
And there are rivers that seem legendary to the schoolchildren of California and are almost a let down to see in real life:
The American River
The American flows a little south, but mostly west to join the Sacramento River. which deltas into the San Francisco Bay (yep the Bay reaches pretty deep inland).
This bridge over the Sacramento River is indeed swung out at 90 degrees, permitting the paddleboat I was on to pass by. It was really kinda neat.
But back to the Sierras and those Big Trees.
These pines line the road into the state park and I thought they stood at attention like sentinels. Turns out, that's what they're called. Sentinels.
"Here in the West we're livin' in the best..."
The ponderosa...
did I say Big Trees? Oh, I meant Big ASS Trees:
More than 250 feet up, about 25 feet in diameter. Easily over 3000 years old.
Big ass trees? More like Goddamned Big Ass-Kicking Motherfuckers Made of Wood. Right.
This tree is still alive. Almost all of the giants have burn marks. They almost wouldn't be able to survive without fire.
Astounding.
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