habitat ~ 09/29/13 ~ Rocky Creek

Rocky Creek

September 27, 28, and 29, 2013

There was only a core group of 10 of us with 4 small dogs that camped this time.  The girlfriend invited her recently engaged friends, and I invited a fellow local blogger, Bread on the Water, and her husband down for a visit.  We had a bit less revelry than in the past, with no cocktail hour visitors and an evening honoring 2 of our friends who died recently.  Rocky Creek is a special place filled with fond memories.

The pond was engineered by one of the family members who's a hydrologist.  The overflow goes right back into Rocky Creek.   There are several decent sized fish that jump around on occasion. 

I'm always amazed at the power of the wind to mold redwood trees into sculptural shapes.  And, yes, there always seems to be something in bloom, such as this silver bush lupine.

Here's what happens to tanbark oaks when Sudden Oak Death hits them.  SOD first started appearing in this canyon maybe about 10 years ago (?).  

And last, here's a view of Rocky Creek Bridge from the lower property road.  Caltrans is still working on repairing and upgrading a section of Hwy 1 just south of the Bridge that slid into the ocean 2 years ago.  BigSurKate has excellent updates on road closures there.

ps 10/22/13 - For a blog post about a recently released paper on SOD and redwoods, check out BigSurKate.

habitat ~ 09/29/12 ~ Rocky Creek

 Rocky Creek

September 29, 2012

posted 10/10/12 - It's been 3 years and 2 months since a core group of 7 of us camped down here together on private property that has been owned by the same families for almost a century.  We did not stay at the cabin.  We also had 3 dogs, a son and girlfriend, and 3 other visitors from last time. There were 3 additional campers, 6 new visitors, and 4 additional dogs who also joined us.  Phew! What I'll remember most from this excursion are the collective stories of our lives, all that has changed and all that has remained the same.  This passage of time has been bittersweet.

One of our cocktail hour visitors mentioned a celebrity wedding.  I assumed he was talking about another famous wedding that happened in Big Sur this past summer.  It wasn't until I got home that I found out another starlet had gotten married this day, and long lens photos were plastered all over the internet.  It's such a close-knit community down in Big Sur that I just can't imagine a native would sell out.  They guard and respect privacy.  I suspect the wedding planners for both weddings leaked the information and photos.  However, I'm glad to see Big Sur is getting booked after last year's economically devastating period with several road closures.

Blogger bigsurkate has been posting updates on the Rocky Creek hard closures that I believe will be starting this coming Sunday night and going through next year.  The traffic backup for the existing one lane can be seen in the last photo above.  It's something to keep in mind if you plan on visiting Big Sur anytime soon.

As for the habitat aspects, I couldn't get out of my mind a critical comment made by a fellow CNPS member during a trip to nearby Garrapata State Park back on June 3, 2012.  He felt the families were not doing enough to eradicate the cape ivy and jubata grass (shown in the 2nd and 3rd photos above) that is spreading down the coast.  Although, I'm not sure I entirely agree with him about extensive artificial planting of natives, either.  This practice gives a false expectation of what wild truly looks like and takes an extraordinary amount of resources to attempt to sustain.  I found Death of a Million Trees' Conciliation Biology: Revising Conservation Biology and Authenticity: A modern definition of wilderness posts to be fascinating.  I've long held the belief that us humans are arrogant if we think we can fully understand and control nature.  It's like holding a 2x4 against the tidal wave of natural processes that will continue long after we're gone, bonked on the head by that same 2x4.

redwood ~ 08/02/09 ~ Rocky Creek

gnome in coast redwood
Sequoia sempervirens
Cupressaceae

This is simply a place-holder post to remind me to add some other pics (plus, it makes me laugh). Over the weekend we were camping down near Bixby Bridge towards Big Sur off of the old Hwy 1 on an 800+ acre private property heaven. A group of us were attempting to blaze a trail to the beach by following the creek. Even with a machete in the lead, we didn't have much success and gave up within an hour to enjoy some cool, canned refreshment. Great fun was had by all! The gnome was a surprise find, sitting peacefully in a burnt-out redwood. No one knew how long it had been sitting there or who had hiked in far enough to place this woodsy watcher.

habitat ~ 04/24/09 ~ Rocky Creek

Rocky Creek
April 24, 2009

posted 07/26/11 - The day started out foggy as is typical here on the coast. That's my friend looking for soap plant off the upper road close to the cabin in the second picture. The sign was to keep people away from a calf carcass that was tethered on the hill. If I remember correctly, the Ventana Wildlife Society had asked various land owners if they could set out calf carcasses to lure condors to the coast, like a twisted breadcrumb trail on a large scale. The tether was apparently tied to rebar to keep the coyotes from moving the carcass. And, we guessed they were using stillborn calves, because they were easy to obtain and carry into remote places. It all sounded silly to me. By the time we searched for soap plant, headed down the lower road to the camp area, ate lunch, watched butterflies, and headed out, the sun had burned through for gorgeous views on our drive back to town.