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On last week's loop hike, I stumbled across some mysterious wooden construction, in the middle of nowhere, just before I reconnected with my earlier GPS track. I wanted to get back up to that ridge and see if I could figure out what this was.
I also wanted to try and put my recently acquired knowledge of route finding to use, and try to find an easier way up to that ridge. All my earlier routes had been along the signs of the old trails on the hill shade map. But the old trails are very hard to use as they're lower in the canyon, covered in brush and downed trees. Higher up the ridge, the soil is more rocky and it's much clearer. I navigated up to a track closer to the ridge and tried to meet that at a point before I ran into heavy brush and downed trees. Also made use of the aerial imagery map to find small clearings to link together and ended up with a relatively brush-free track up to the ridge top.
So the mystery wooden construction turned out to me an abandoned, secret, user-built mountain bike terrain park. This was built in the late 1990's or early 2000's by about 3 riders. They had an unmarked trail down from Charcoal Road, likely close to where I hiked down. Apparently, the maintenance of these obstacles got to be too much for the group, with fallen branches and trees requiring removal and repair after every big storm.
The area was then somewhat abandoned, but later revived briefly by a new group. At some point, the county park rangers found this area and chased off the new group. That was sometime before 2008 and the area has been essentially abandoned since then.
I did communicate with one or two of the original builders to put this story together, so it should be fairly accurate without revealing too many details. I also think I may have found signs of the 2 other riding areas they constructed in my other hikes, so those discoveries now make more sense.
Some photos of the area:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1LRX3NGdpfVqGYgFA
USGS Na..
Last year, I wondered if it was possible to link up a loop hike going down what I call the Slide Trail from the junction of Charcoal and Table Mtn. roads to the Canyon Trail.
On this trip, I wanted to "close the loop" between my tracks down from the top of the ridge and up the canyon from below. There was about 1/4 mile or 400m between those 2 points.
I did find some suspicious looking areas on Google satellite view that hinted at a likely brushy section down the ridge. Indeed, it was a combination of downed trees and what looked like Greasewood that made an impassible section. Luckily, the west side of the ridge was clear enough to allow me to make it past the bad section.
Farther down the ridge, I encountered a faint trail, but not deep enough to register on the LIDAR/hill shade map. That trail eventually led to some wooden construction of some sort. I found more wooden construction a bit farther down the ridge but totally missed seeing what I pointed out in an annotation. If you have any ideas on what this may have been for, drop a comment below or stay tuned for the next video where we'll find out what that is.
Was able to drop down off the ridge via the gully that I ended up at on the previous trip. Really easy to just point in the direction of that GPS track and hike downhill towards it.
It's nice to be able to put some of the knowledge gathered from my Understanding Old Trails videos to use here. Recognizing the different types of soils and how that affects the vegetation is really powerful. Also, learning to interpret the various aerial imagery maps is helpful to look for potential problem areas on the route.
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade layers:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
Google aerial view of the brushy area:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jp8eKeKF9gKefdpL8
More to come...
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#USGS #HillShade
Last year, I wondered if it was possible to link up a loop hike going down what I call the Slide Trail from the junction of Charcoal and Table Mtn. roads to the Canyon Trail.
On this trip, I wanted to push my GPS track on the "Slide Trail" farther up the canyon to the base of the ridge that drops down from where I stopped the week before.
Also it's nice to be able to put some of the knowledge gathered from my Understanding Old Trails videos to use here. Recognizing the different types of soils and how that affects the vegetation is really powerful.
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade layers:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
More to come...
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And as always, thanks for watching
#USGS #HillShade
Last year, I wondered if it was possible to link up a loop hike going down what I call the Slide Trail from the junction of Charcoal and Table Mtn. roads to the Canyon Trail.
I had taken a brief look last spring at the top of the canyon for signs of the old trail, but didn't really see anything obvious. I wanted to take a 2nd look for a possible route down the main ridge that drops down to the visible portion of the trail. On the hill shade map, the trail is extremely faint in the upper half of the canyon, to the point that it may not be there at all.
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade layers:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
More to come...
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And as always, thanks for watching
#USGS #HillShade
Found a better viewpoint for the spillway. This was just before the reservoir level dropped below the spillway level. This is the 2nd year in a row the spillway has been used.
Found a better viewpoint for the spillway. This was just before the reservoir level dropped below the spillway level.
#shorts
Trying to find an old road or trail that ran up the side of the main canyon close to where the old pond dam was built along Stevens Canyon Rd. Not sure what this road was built for, but it showed up as a "Jeep Trail" on the 1961 USGS topo map and it seems to be present on the 1982 topo map, although unlabeled.
This road appears to ascend up an old land slide scar and seems to have mostly slid away. Note to self: Don't build a road on a land slide! This is the sort of road that needs constant use and maintenance to remain passable.
I might try returning to see if I can get up to the faintly visible portion of road in the side canyon.
USGS National Map Viewer:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
View/download maps on the TopoView site:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
Palo Alto quadrangle:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#12/37.3758/-122.1445
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#USGS #HillShade
Trying to find an old road or trail that ran up the stream canyon where the old pond dam was built along Stevens Canyon Rd. Not sure what this road was built for, but it was likely associated with the old structures visible on the 1948 historical topo map.
It took 2 trips to locate this road. It's very faint on the hill shade map and even fainter on the ground. I did manage to find a short stretch of the road before it vanished under heavy brush. It appears this side of the canyon gets a lot of sun exposure and all the areas likely cleared back in the mid-1900s are being over grown with brush. From the aerial view, this isn't an area with serpentine soil, thus a different species of brush, likely Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis).
If this road was associated with the 1940's era buildings shown on the USGS map, it's likely been unused for perhaps 70 years and has mostly vanished. It doesn't seem to connect to the road under the pond dam and that pond isn't depicted on the 1948 map. But it does show up on the 1961 map. So that pond may have been built after those structures were abandoned, as they don't appear on that 1961 map.
USGS National Map Viewer:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
View/download maps on the TopoView site:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
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Comment, rate, share & click the bell icon
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#USGS #HillShade
The updated Garrity closet touch lights are still working well.
LED flashlight bulbs:
https://www.superbrightleds.com/1-2-watt-flashlight-bulb-1-2-watt-flashlight-bulb
22 lumens, 2.8-12 VDC, 0.5W, 120° beam angle PR2 bulb
There are also 1W and 3W bulbs with wide beam angles, but I feel those are too bright for a small closet space. Those might work well in a larger closet or area that needs light, for example inside a camper shell on a pickup.
A set of 4 Eneloop NiMH AA batteries lasted 5-1/2 years in the first light that's next to my 3D printer filament dry box. The 2nd light is outside by my solar power inverters and that one is still going on the original charge. I should probably pull those cells out and top them off.
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Intro:
Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers
https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222425/http://drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=94
1st generation Toyota 4Runner, testing out the rain tightness of the Killer Toy Top soft top after adding a 200W solar panel.
I did experience a leak shortly after installing the soft top as I had missed installing the factory gasket around the back of the cab:
https://youtu.be/z-4FDXRyNBk?si=bb99FwTxFv9mJwq5
Good news this time is no water leaks after installing the solar panel. I did have some rather expensive "sealing washers" on order last summer, but they were going to take several months to arrive. So I cancelled that order and decided to wait and see if I would need them and it appears that I don't. I think the TPU washers I made for spacing the strut channel off the roof likely sealed well enough around the bolt threads and grommets in the canvas to keep the water out.
#4Runner #softtop #lithiumbatteries #solarpanel #chargecontroller #LiTimestory
Every rainy season, I try to "calibrate" the depth of the main creek crossing on the Canyon Trail with the Valley Water flow sensor near Stevens Creek Reservoir. This changes year to year as the creek bed cuts and fills in different areas. I figured I would upload this video to share my information on the 2023-24 season.
Stevens Creek Inflow (Stream Sensor 5045)
https://alert.valleywater.org/?p=sensor&sid=5045&disc=f
5-6 CFS low - cross-able with dry feet
28-30 CFS high - knee deep crossing
From the look of the muddy water and the slow decay of the flow rate, it appears the soil has become saturated up in the Santa Cruz Mtns. That means the creek will rise up much higher with a given rainfall amount and also take longer to drop back down. You can see over this season, the in between storm water flow has been creeping up about 1 CFS per storm. Officially, the trail is "closed" when it's "flooded", per the Open Space District and County Parks signs.
My friend Richard maintains a Trail water level page with status on a number of popular bike paths in the Santa Clara valley. He scrapes rainfall data from various real-time rainfall sites and correlates that to water levels in the associated creeks/rivers and relates that to elevations of low lying under crossings on those trails:
http://www.cyclelicio.us/trails/santaclaracounty.html
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Looking at the tectonic block that sits between the historic and Quaternary traces of the San Andrea fault near Table Mountain.
I had initially planned to hike this block a few years ago when I accidentally stumbled on the old trail along Water Wheel Creek:
https://youtu.be/SUIoMG5UkAU?si=CB-71Ulb9-QslJ0N
The hill shade maps really help to show the land forms, especially when combined with the USGS fault maps on Google Earth.
Paper: ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE MONTEBELLO RIDGE MOUNTAIN STUDY AREA:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015042059330&seq=38
"TECTONIC BLOCKS - Large angular to rounded, commonly elliptically shaped masses of relatively hard rocks surrounded by a clay-rich. sheared matrix. Occurs within shear zones and fault gouge. In the shear zones of the Franciscan' rocks, these' blocks range from fist size to masses more than one mile long."
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
USGS Quaternary Faults data:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/education/geologicmaps/qfaults.php
Download the "qfaults.kmz" file from the link on the page, then import that into Google Earth.
Tip: Zoom into your area of interest BEFORE turning on one of the layers. I recall this file has the fault traces, landslide areas and geologic units for a large area and it'll bring your device to a crawl if you enable one of these layers zoomed way out.
You can see how the Canyon Trail, that's mostly built on an old ranch road, follows the historic trace of the San Andreas fault.
More to come...
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And as always, thanks for watching
#USGS #HillShade
Looking at the tectonic block that sits between the historic and Quaternary traces of the San Andrea fault near Table Mountain.
This time, starting at the saddle in the middle of the block and heading south east to the down stream end of the block. There are 2 large grassy meadows on top of this portion that seem to be quite popular with the local deer population.
I made it to within sight of the crossing of Stevens Creek at Lower Table Mtn. Trail, but was unable to get all the way to the bottom of the block. The ridge gets very narrow and is covered with heavy brush, with steep slopes on each side that prevent bypassing the brushy areas. I was able to descend via a game trail back to the Canyon Trail.
I had initially planned to hike this block a few years ago when I accidentally stumbled on the old trail along Water Wheel Creek:
https://youtu.be/SUIoMG5UkAU?si=CB-71Ulb9-QslJ0N
The hill shade maps really help to show the land forms, especially when combined with the USGS fault maps on Google Earth.
Paper: ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE MONTEBELLO RIDGE MOUNTAIN STUDY AREA:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015042059330&seq=38
"TECTONIC BLOCKS - Large angular to rounded, commonly elliptically shaped masses of relatively hard rocks surrounded by a clay-rich. sheared matrix. Occurs within shear zones and fault gouge. In the shear zones of the Franciscan' rocks, these' blocks range from fist size to masses more than one mile long."
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
USGS Quaternary Faults data:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/education/geologicmaps/qfaults.php
Download the "qfaults.kmz" file from the link on the page, then import that into Google Earth.
Tip: Zoom into your area of interest BEFORE turning on one of the layers. I recall this file has the fault traces, landslide areas and geologic units for a large area and it'll bring your device to a crawl if you enable one of these layers zoom..
Looking at the tectonic block that sits between the historic and Quaternary traces of the San Andrea fault near Table Mountain, in the Santa Cruz Mtns.
This time, starting at the saddle in the middle of the block, first to look at the abundant surface boulders. Then off to the small gully on the creek side of the block. This area was likely part of the original canyon wall before the block broke free. There appears to be a lot of broken up Serpentinite on the grassy meadows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentinite
I had initially planned to hike this block a few years ago when I accidentally stumbled on the old trail along Water Wheel Creek:
https://youtu.be/SUIoMG5UkAU?si=CB-71Ulb9-QslJ0N
The hill shade maps really help to show the land forms, especially when combined with the USGS fault maps on Google Earth.
Paper: ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE MONTEBELLO RIDGE MOUNTAIN STUDY AREA:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015042059330&seq=38
"TECTONIC BLOCKS - Large angular to rounded, commonly elliptically shaped masses of relatively hard rocks surrounded by a clay-rich. sheared matrix. Occurs within shear zones and fault gouge. In the shear zones of the Franciscan' rocks, these' blocks range from fist size to masses more than one mile long."
USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
USGS Quaternary Faults data:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/education/geologicmaps/qfaults.php
Download the "qfaults.kmz" file from the link on the page, then import that into Google Earth.
Tip: Zoom into your area of interest BEFORE turning on one of the layers. I recall this file has the fault traces, landslide areas and geologic units for a large area and it'll bring your device to a crawl if you enable one of these layers zoomed way out.
You can see how the Canyon Trail, that's mostly built on an old ranch road, follows the historic trace of the San Andreas fault.
More to come...
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After replacing the factory gear shift knob on my 1985 Toyota 4Runner with one 3D printed in ABS plastic, I found that there were some annoying noises in certain gears and speeds.
I have a B&M short throw shifter, that I installed in the truck about 20 years ago. That shift lever is solid steel, so is prone to transmit vibrations from the transmission:
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/ShortThrowTrannyShifter/1.html
I never liked the included knob as it's solid metal and in the winter, it's very cold. Plus it has no shift pattern on it.
Now I realize the reason for the evolution in the Toyota shifters over time. The early (pre-83) shifters were plain steel rods. Then they went to the 2-piece design with the rubber bonding in the middle:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9SrGPYHAEKRmwBV9A
Not sure if all the shift knobs were made out of a rubber material, but those two features worked in tandem to dampen out noise and vibrations from the transmission from coming up into the cab.
I re-printed the same 3D model as before:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:422254
but this time in TPU filament. I first tried 50% infill as a test and that proved too soft and squishy. It is amazing what this TPU material will produce at those lower infill values. I mainly print it at 100% infill for things like bushings.
At 90% infill, it seems to make a decent feeling part. It has a similar feel to the factory knob and also dampens out all the noise. I may try heating up the internally threaded steel tube and pressing that deeper into the knob for a final installation. That should also eliminate the need for any adhesive. I may also try using a heat gun or torch to smooth out the surface or try sanding it like I did with the 50% part.
Nice simple design, has the proper shift pattern and I think this one can be adapted to be a replacement. Will need to add one of our shift lever extensions to be able to thread it onto the Toyota shift lever:
https://www.4crawler.com/..
Testing out 3D printed TPU shock absorber bushings on the 1985 4Runner.
Original Thingiverse page with just the L1 hourglass bushing STL files:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5411334
Details on the front shock setup:
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_suspension-III.shtml#LongTravelShocks
Initially, I had fastened the side shocks to the factory shock tower with a couple of bolts. This made for a nice, narrow setup, but it over stressed the steel of the factory shock tower and that ultimately failed. So I redesigned the mounting bracket to be separate from the factory tower. That made the setup wider and I needed to lengthen the 3/4" steel rod top mount. That made the rod too long to fit into the shocks in 1 piece, so I had to add a 1-1/2" long extension that can be removed to get that rod in and out of the shocks. I also added a pair of steel spacers, that fit between the top of the shocks, to hold them in position side to side.
I figure this is a good place to test out these 3D printed bushings as it's not a "mission critical" part. After all, I drove the truck for some time before I tracked the strange noise from the front to the missing bushings. If anyone wants to try these bushings out, please report back on your results. Now, if you need to replace the original bushings, Rancho does offer reasonably priced replacements. But if you need a modified bushing, by all means consider 3D printing a replacement. Stay tuned to an upcoming video where I'll dive into more modified bushings...
J. Stevenson was also one of the early advocates of using Toyota mini-truck rear springs up front (a.k.a. RUF) and I think I was one of the first to run RUF spring on my 4Runner:
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_suspension-III.shtml#CustomSprings
One drawback of the shock setup is the number of shocks required. I picked up the 4 - RS9120 shocks on a "buy 3 get 1 free" sale at 4WPW. I think I had the original RS5010 shocks and later swapped to the RS9012 and finall..
This time, making some 3D printed TPU shock absorber bushings for a Mazda B2600 4WD pickup.
Rancho shocks used:
Front: RS980:
- Lower straight bushing: 40mm wide, 16mm ID
Rear: RS999202:
- Lower L3 hourglass 40mm wide, 16mm ID
- Upper L3 hourglass, 39mm+4mm spacer or 43mm wide w/ 4mm offset, 20mm ID
This worked out well as I needed to design the LS straight bushing for my center shocks. However, I would need to take those off my truck to press out those bushings, likely destroying them in the process. So this project gave me the option of using the brand new LS bushings to measure and test fit. With the split bushing design, its so much easier to install and remove these, no press or bolt setup needed.
I hadn't worked with the larger L3 hourglass bushings before, so this motivated converting my original Fusion 360 CAD file into OpenSCAD. Originally, I had hard coded all the dimensions into the L1 hourglass CAD file. But this time, I separated everything out into separate dimensions plus additional clearance parameters. It's so much easier to work with the OpenSCAD files because you can see all the parameters in one place. In Fusion 360, you have the user parameters in a separate dialog box that you can't see when working on the drawing.
I used the Zyltech TPU filament:
https://www.zyltech.com/zyltech-filament/zyltech-specialty-filament/?_bc_fsnf=1&Materials=TPU
Shore hardness: 95A
Thingiverse:
Original: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5411334
New: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6488040
If you make some of these bushings, post a comment here or on the Thingiverse or Cults3D site what filament you used and how they worked for you.
More to come, making custom metric sleeves for the TPU bushings...
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This time, making custom sleeves for 3D printed TPU shock absorber bushings for a Mazda B2600 4WD pickup.
Had to make 2 changes to the bushings. First was to make some sleeves for the lower shock mounts, front and rear. Both these mounts have a pair of tabs with a plain bolt through the center. The sleeves are needed to stop from over compressing the bushings and deforming the mounting tabs.
Secondly, we needed to tighten up the bushings in the shock eyes. I added a CAD file parameter, ODextra, to add (or subtract) a small amount from the bushing OD for a tighter or looser fit. Originally, I had hard coded this into the bushing dimensions, but it got very confusing to keep changing those dimensions. Now, the original bushing outer diameters remain fixed and you simply adjust this one parameter to alter the bushing diameter. There's a similar parameter for the bushing ID clearance as well.
Rancho shocks used:
Front: RS980:
- Lower straight bushing: 40mm wide, 16mm ID w/ 16x12 sleeve
Rear: RS999202:
- Lower L3 hourglass 40mm wide, 16mm ID w/ 16x12 sleeve
- Upper L3 hourglass, 39mm+4mm spacer or 43mm wide w/ 4mm offset, 20mm ID
Needed a total of 4 sleeves, 40mm long, 16mm OD x 12mm ID
Use a seamless tubing for custom sleeves:
https://amzn.to/3I5FhpW
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/tubing/material~steel-2/smooth-bore-seamless-steel-tubing/?s=steel+tubing
I used the Zyltech TPU filament:
https://www.zyltech.com/zyltech-filament/zyltech-specialty-filament/?_bc_fsnf=1&Materials=TPU
Shore hardness: 95A
Thingiverse:
Original: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5411334
New: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6488040
https://cults3d.com/en/users/4Crawler/3d-models
If you make some of these bushings, post a comment here or on the Thingiverse or Cults3D site what filament you used and how they worked for you.
More to come...
Subscribe for more content like this
Comment, like, share & click the bell icon
And as always, thanks for watching
A walk through of the OpenSCAD files for 3D printed TPU shock absorber bushings.
The SCAD files all share similar variable names and layout. The inner and outer dimensions have separate clearance parameters to make dialing in the exact printed size of the parts easier. Originally, I hard coded these clearance values into the actual ID and OD parameters and that made it hard to change from one hole size to another. The basic idea is to print a sample bushing an then either measure the ID and OD dimensions, as printed, or just test fit into the shock mount and shock eye and adjust as needed.
The ODextra parameter can be used to adjust the fit of the bushing in the shock eye. If you make that too large, you may find the middle of the bushing will shrink in as the narrow center of the shock eye compresses the ID of the bushing when you install it. On my front shock mount, I like to have the bushings somewhat loose since I have to shove the upper rod through 3 bushings in a row.
For printing TPU bushings, I generally use 100% infill, with a concentric pattern. I also find it best to print only one part at a time as TPU isn't very tolerant of retractions. I find it prints best if it just extrudes nearly continuously. I use a BuildTak PEI print sheet with talcum powder to aid in releasing the part.
3D CAD Files:
Original: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5411334
New: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6488040
https://cults3d.com/en/users/4Crawler/3d-models
https://www.printables.com/model/777568-rancho-shock-absorber-bushings
I used the Zyltech TPU filament:
https://www.zyltech.com/zyltech-filament/zyltech-specialty-filament/?_bc_fsnf=1&Materials=TPU
Shore hardness: 95A
If you make some of these bushings, post a comment here or on the Thingiverse/Cults3D/Printables site what filament you used and how they worked for you.
More to come, making custom metric sleeves for the TPU bushings...
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Comment, like, share & cli..
Atmospheric river storms got this waterfall running on New Years Day 2023 and again in Feb. 2024. I had scouted this area out a year prior and kept it on my list to check after a heavy rain storm:
https://youtu.be/5VjQvBeCuwo
This water fall drops into Stevens Creek at the end of the outflow channel of an old abandoned pond. Located a few miles west of Cupertino, CA.
#shorts #shortsvideo #short #waterfall
This is the new outflow channel that's capturing most of the pond outflow.
Atmospheric river storms got this waterfall running on New Years Day 2023 and again in Feb. 2024. I had scouted this area out a year prior and kept it on my list to check after a heavy rain storm:
https://youtu.be/5VjQvBeCuwo
This water fall drops into Stevens Creek at the end of the outflow channel of an old abandoned pond. Located a few miles west of Cupertino, CA.
#shorts #shortsvideo #short #waterfall
Found a flat rock in Stevens Creek to get a side-on view of this waterfall.
Atmospheric river storms got this waterfall running on New Years Day 2023 and again in Feb. 2024. I had scouted this area out a year prior and kept it on my list to check after a heavy rain storm:
https://youtu.be/5VjQvBeCuwo
This water fall drops into Stevens Creek at the end of the outflow channel of an old abandoned pond. Located a few miles west of Cupertino, CA.
#waterfall
Trying to understand how and why these old trails and roads were built where they were. To do that, I'm trying to find a route up an area of the north side of the canyon where I've yet to find any old trails or roads.
I'm finally starting to get a feel for how the vegetation mix changes with elevation and what direction it faces here in the canyon. In most cases, below 1700-1800 ft. elevation, it's impenetrable brush. There is also the sun exposure of the slope. The creek and canyon run from the NW to the SE. Slopes on the side canyons will be more northern exposures on one side and southern exposures on the other side.
More to come...
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And as always, thanks for watching
Trying to understand how and why these old trails and roads were built where they were. To do that, I'm trying to find a route up an area of the north side of the canyon where I've yet to find any old trails or roads.
This time, heading further up the nose of the ridge and testing out my new aerial imagery layer in OsmAnd. This works well to locate clearings in the tree and brush cover. It also showed where there was a distinct change in the color of the vegetation just past the 1400 ft. elevation mark.
I had difficulty identifying the type of plant. Google Lens identified it as California Sagebrush. While that is a common plant in the area, the reddish dried flower stems did not match that species. I finally got a weak match on the PlantNet app:
https://plantnet.org/
Which had a 21% match for California Greasewood or common Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenostoma_fasciculatum
Two web pages, in particular, really nailed it:
http://www.cloudphotographic.com/bot165/lab7/chamise.html
"The reddish tips of branches are dried fruits and the remnants of flowers."
and
https://thebackcountry.varnell.org/Plants/Plants-by-Family/ROSACEAE/Chamise
"It is very drought tolerant and adaptable, with the ability to grow in nutrient-poor, barren soil and on dry, rocky outcrops. It can be found in serpentine soils, which are generally inhospitable to most plants."
That "serpentine soil" is very important. Serpentine rocks are very common in the Franciscan Complex that makes up this whole area. Those rocks are very soft and quickly break down into a specific soil type. My observation that the areas with rocky soil were clear of brush makes sense now. If there are rocks on the surface, those rocks are resistant to breaking down, and are thus not Serpentinite. Here's a plant that thrives in serpentine soils and thus, going by the gray-green color on the aerial view, you can see exactly where those soils are. And the vivid red colo..
Trying to understand how and why these old trails and roads were built where they were. To do that, I'm trying to find a route up an area of the north side of the canyon where I've yet to find any old trails or roads.
This time, heading further up the Canyon Trail to the next small side stream canyon. This is a more north facing ridge. According to the aerial imagery layer, it's mostly free of the Chamise/Greasewood brush, at least if you stay to the stream side of the ridge.
The slope is very steep and very rocky. The large quantity of surface rocks is likely why there's no brush here. I managed to get up nearly as high as I did the week before, where I hit the heavy brush. It looks like I can continue higher up this ridge, so will try that on an upcoming trip. Unfortunately, the weekend following this trip, we started getting a series of pineapple express storms off the Pacific that dumped lots of rain. This raised the water level in Stevens Creek, making the creek crossing too deep for my taste.
I'm finally starting to get a feel for how the vegetation mix changes with elevation and what direction it faces here in the canyon. In most cases, below 1700-1800 ft. elevation, it's impenetrable brush. There is also the sun exposure of the slope. The creek and canyon run from the NW to the SE. Slopes on the north side canyons will be more northern exposures on one side and southern exposures on the other side. Both the Waterwheel Creek trail and the old Ridge Road are on ridges with the northern exposures. And this attempt on a southern exposure ridge shows why.
It's this combination of sun exposure, soil type and elevation that all work together to determine what a given slope will be like. It seems that some of the old, likely native, trails were built to take advantage of a favorable combination of factors to produce a trail that took minimal effort to build or maintain.
More to come...
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This channel was blocked here in BitChute during the months of Feb-Mar 2024. Most of the videos seem to be back on-line.