JERRY'S HOLLERIN'

I heard something like 6" of rain fell along the lakeshore Tuesday.   Serious rain, too.   On the way home, I stopped to investigate conditions at the mouth of Walnut Creek.  At 5P, the crick was roaring, but as evidenced by debris lines along the bank, the creek had been a good two feet higher earlier in the afternoon.  Here's a pic:

 

Keep in mind that Walnut Creek is not all that long and, it drains off fairly quickly.  I wouldn't necessarily call it steep creekin', but you really do have to run this crick when it is loaded up following a big rain.  Even though it had been two feet higher earlier in the day, it was still showing trains of standing waves that were solid 2 footers. 

 

I've run this crick before, in similar conditions, with two other paddlers.  We put in somewhere up near Asbury Woods, but the mission was aborted just shy of reaching this pictured section of the creek.  Maybe "aborted" isn't quite the right descriptor.  No, this mission was shredded, when we encountered a monster washing machine on the far side of the twin tubes carrying the Conrail Tracks overhead of Walnut Creek.  Every paddler in our 3 boat group gamely shot through the tube and launched out over a 4-5 foot spill-over.  From the darkness of the tube, into bright daylight and ........ into a monster churning maul of water.  The trap was bounded 10 feet downstream with a 6 or 7 foot standing wave that, judging by the amount of floatsome debris that was in the toilet bowl - rejected more than it allowed to pass.  I was the first boat through the tunnel and launched out over the frothing pit.  And, I credit adrenalin with giving me a little extra oommph in the last few paddle strokes that allowed me to guide the Twister out over the frothy pit and bury the nose of the yak well into the standing wave on the opposite side.  I managed to stick the nose of the Twister just deep enough into the standing wave that, by sheer luck, I avoided being spit backwards into the hole and was able to ride it up and then claw my way over the crest of the "wave of rejection".  I'll pause now, to allow the reader to snicker a bit, but I assure you, this little crick was running fast and wild.  Unfortunately, the other 2/3rds of our adventure team had to go through the washing machine.  I was only able to glance back once to see boater #2 approach the spill-over at the tube exit - not paddling either! - and slowly plummet into the Maytag.  I ended up holding onto some brush on the bank about 70 yards down stream and waiting for my fellow paddlers.  Neither came by.  But, I did observe paddles, neoprene booties and water bottles rushing by.  Turns out that both paddlers were picked clean.  Both yaks were lost to the crick.  One, I recall was later located folded in half and jammed tight into a tree.  Fortunately, both paddlers managed to get spit out of the hole and make their way to shore.  True story.

 

Anyhow, Walnut Creek was truly roaring yesterday.  Even the USGS fellows were out.  Here's a pic of them measuring the flow rate as the crick passed under the Manchester Rd. bridge:

I snapped off the lens cover just in time to catch this fellow lumbering over his dam to work at it from the other side.

 

Wasn't much of a sunset Tues evening.  But, here's a shot from the end of the day on Monday.

Sorta been laying low and trying to stay in the game.  Hopefully, some recent adjustments will clear a log jam of potential targets on the Get List.  In the meantime, I've been packing the Panasonic around:

 

K and I encountered what we think was an Osprey on Lake LeBeouf.

 

Above and below:  Local fellows, bassin' in the morning fog.

 

 

Turns out to be a Pumpkin Launcher.  Home built by some good ol' boys near the Ohio line.

 

This female snapper had hauled out and appeared to be finishing back-filling a nest of eggs she had just laid.

 

Best guess is that it is a Turkey Vulture.  Awfully wet after a big rain.

 

Momma shows her brood how its done.

 

The sun has crawled about as far north as it will go this year and now begins to reverse.  Good thing, too, because if it went any further north, I was gonna have to move off the deck for a clean shot. 

 

The J-man, of E-ville, sends word of earned turns in the Bridger mtns.  This has been the only report I've had of any local skiers still getting the job done.  Solstice skiing no less.  Unfortunately, he provided no beta details.  He did send an iwasthere pic:

 

 

Atta boy, J-man

Finally got the mtn bike out for a spin last evening.  Given that Erie had been pounded with several inches of rain late in the afternoon, Asbury Woods seemed like a good choice as most of the trail network runs along Walnut Creek and drains off fairly well.  I wasn't disappointed.  Sure, it was sloppy and slick, but Asbury still holds some of the finest urban mtn biking on the North Coast.  Hats off to the California kids who continue to construct some awesome log walks, bermed turns and, killer DH shots on the eastern perimeter (just inside the Brown's Farm woodline).  Some of it was pretty intimidating and I passed on a couple of logs spanning mini-ravines.  Didn't see any other riders out, but that's just as well because I didn't need to get sucked into anything macho this early in the season.

The month of May has just sorta slipped away from me.  Never even got a chance to properly mourn the demise of what was a pretty glorious ski season.  Now, here it is the day after Memorial Day, and I can't even file a report that I've pedaled the bike around the block or paddled the yak around the pond. 

 

Oh, I've dragged the camera around a bit and picked up a sunset or two.  But mostly, I've just been sorta pre-occupied dealing with "stuff" - like playing farmer in the garden.   And, you gotta remember, this is, after all, primarily a ski blog.  Things are supposed to slow down a bit when the snow melts.

 

Anyway, thanx to all who've inquired about what I'm up to and, I hope to find a couple of tid-bits to blather about over the summer months.  Just think, if we start out next ski season like we did this past one, we'll be slapping on the boards in something like 148 days!

 

Not a lot going on ... just waiting for sumptin' to happen by.

 

 

 

 

 

Just about everywhere I looked, nature was bustin' out this past weekend:

Made a lot of noise for such a small fellow

 

His down was aglow

 

There used to be two chicks, but now I only see one

 

Enamored with his reflection

 

Mom worked hard to keep 'em all together

 

The bed of a blown-out former beaver pond

 

6' high - no lie!

 

 

 

 

Saturday night's sunset

A few interesting pics:

 

Eating a snake while perched on a branch.

 

Snapper

 

A Fisherman

 

A successful fisherman

 

2 Snappers "sexting"  - a long telephoto shot, but they were going at it and it was hard to figure out what was going on at first.