Totally presumed that we would have some down time to relax after the wedding. So far, that hasn’t happened. Mostly good stuff though – some house stuff done, a karate belt test, work (well, that’s been a… mixed bag), and then another upcoming wedding this weekend, and then a few days in Cambridge and then almost a whole month at home! Anyway!
Three long summers ago, I went on a nice walk up the Arroyo Seco with Joe, and we ended up at the Brown Canyon Dam, which I’d never seen before. We were mostly out to take photos and get some fresh air, and I would have to say I think we succeeded on both fronts.
It was a really beautiful day out
I asked Joe if he wanted to go for a bit of a hike, and he said he wanted to do an easy hike (to play with his new camera) and a hard hike (to train) that weekend. I indicated that I would have some greater interest in the easy hike, to take photos. So we went for a bit of a walk up the Arroyo. Joe lent me one of his cameras, the 40D, and we set off for a lovely day. Joe told me later that he didn’t end up doing the harder hike, as well, so I guess it was good that we ended up doing this!
There comes a time in all our lives in which we need to make decisions
barbed wire….for safety
We went along and parked in Altadena, near the trailhead above JPL, and started off along the main road. We pretty quickly came to some good signs, labelled this way, and that way. We went this way. After a bit, the trail wends its way into the canyon proper, and we stay to the left as the various uphill trails veer off to the right.
The walk was … mellow. I have no other real words than that. We walked up canyon. I’ve done this walk, or at least parts of it, several times before. You cross several bridges, or in same cases where the bridges are washed or burned away (one notable case from the station fire that I recall going over before), you cross the river itself. We saw lots of people out , and many with their dogs, including some very funny corgis.
corgis – legs just barely long enough to reach the ground
big old agave are *awesome*
An hour and change in, we hit the Gould Mesa campground, where we take a break for a couple of minutes, and marvel at some of the huge agaves they have flanking the campsite, between the sites and the trail proper. We head on further, with more crossings, some on logs, some avoiding gone bridges, and get to a point where they are doing some trailwork. I must believe this to be the case, because I saw a wheelbarrow with a bike in it, which is of course what you would expect to see when someone is doing trailwork. It’s a beautiful day, moving in and out of the shade as we move to and from the creekbed, giving us some lovely colors and continuously variable light.
I don’t see too many trucks going over that
light glowing through a tree. as it does.
The plants are one Joe tall
The yucca flower is the amazing crowing glory…and then the plant dies.
(We’ve now hit the point where I…never finished writing this. Normally I try to get them at least written not too soon after the trip, or at least when I go through the photos, to refresh my memory, but just above is where my file ends. Guess I have to finish it now!)
hey! it’s a photo of me
So what did we do? Well, we kept walking up canyon, following the creek. There were lots of places were logs were jamming what flow there was, and it was all very very bright out, and we suddenly came around a last bit of a bend and were at the dam wall. It was far larger than I anticipated, and had a much broader span as well. Apparently you can sort of route up and around it (either on legitimate trail a bit farther back, or with an unfortunate scramble right at the dam itself.) Anyway, it’s a giant concrete wall with a sluice gate coming over the middle and a small pool at the bottom. It feels so very very out of place and abandoned, but it was a cool place to hang out. I took some shots of the fall while playing with exposure settings (always fun), and also enjoyed just general shooting of the somewhat stark landscape, including the entire large tree hanging down seemingly precariously. It was honestly pretty cool.
water. it falls.
Joe, branch. Branch, Joe.
After mucking about there a bit, we headed back without too much fanfare. Right before we left, I did see a blue heron off the side of the trail, which is always nice. Nice day out! Total trip was about 8 miles, making something like 726 lifetime miles for me, and 47 or so for the shoes I was using.
Did I say branch? I meant tree. Joe, tree. Tree, Joe.
this just doesn’t look like it belongs
