My spring weekends often start with a look at the atlas for spots I can get to that are interesting to me for whatever weird reason (and where there will be warmth and sun over the weekend.) This weekend just past actually functioned as a part II to an outing two weekends back when I spotted the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant on my map. Nukes? In NorCal? In the foothills? How can that be? I never heard of no Rancho Seco! I simply must see what the hell is out there. This I did, but as a by-product, I also located a special place that is going to become a regular haunt - a place I am calling Sierra Arbol de los Orioles. It is righteous - and the getting there is at least as righteous. I think this will make more sense when you actually see it; but first...
My weekend plan was wide open. I saw the plant on the map and a nearby road that runs along the east end of the Sierra Railroad, and that really was all I had planned. I decided to simply roll where the road took me. At the outset, the map said Rancho Seco was out on CA104, but as I approached, I expected to see it looming massive on my horizon. I also expected to see steam belching forth to help me find it. I didn't know anything about the place, least of all the fact that it is out of commission.
After cruising for a stretch wondering where the hell it was, THERE THE HELL IT WAS! The whole thing just sat there, surreal under the clouds. No activity of any kind, no signs, no nothin'. Just two towers tucked into a little vineyard along a foothill riverbed. I had never seen a nuke plant away from a big body of water before. Rancho Seco must have been near a dam or something because this part of the state is bone dry 8 months of the year. I knew that stuff all had to be there, I simply couldn't see it from the road or the park out front.
Given the need for energy in Cali and the fact that what we do get is often a by-product of nasty river dams, I admit I am open to the idea of giving nuke power another shot. I am not sure I would have placed it out here in the hills, but the idea seems like one worth looking at. Only now in looking for info on Rancho Seco do I get a sense of how the life & death of this plant came to be. The plant did have a scare, and I can totally understand deciding that one scare is too much for people to go for. This all happened almost 20 years ago now and I wonder if it might be time to reopen the idea of new plants (provided they be placed in GOP districts, natch.) The dams are such an environmental nightmare in my mind, I am open to any alternative, but I am guessing my line of thinking about it is highly unrepresentative of what the "average" person worries about. Most people never see the dams or care what happens to the rivers as a result so long as the juice is always on. These days, most people seem to have very little sense of how their decisions impact those who have to live here later.
In seeing the plant, I realized I had done pretty much all there was to do around there. I saw it. It clearly wasn't in operation. I took some pictures, and I carried on. I decided to keep heading east because that's where the beauty was! CA104 starting rolling along what had to have been an ancient riverbed from a river that meant business; a river that cleared quite a path in its time.
Following the old river bed down the middle on the approach to the mountains while everything was still green and beautiful made me totally forget that I was within 10 minutes of a nuclear power plant. To imagine this slice of heaven being turned in Chernobyl definitely gives me pause for thought. These places as they stand are special and not something we should trifle with. I simply cannot imagine losing them.
After riding the riverbed awhile, I decided to hit the county roads. I decided my next destination would be a place called Hetch Hetchy Junction. This summer may well be the summer in which I master what I can about Hetch Hetchy. That is the name of the valley used to store water for San Francisco and the Bay Area. I realize we need water, but the Hetch Hetchy Valley was said by John Muir to be just as beautiful as the Yosemite Valley. That is a mind blowing thought to me - the possibility that we put a big stopper at the outflow of that valley and just turned it into a big bowl of drinking water for us! Again, I know we need water, so I haven't gone whole hog into the Restore Hetch Hetchy movement yet, but I definitely wanna see what I can up there for myself. It ain't easy to get near it, and I was hoping that by finding the Hetch Hetchy Junction, I might learn something about the place. The junction I was looking for is the place where the old rail line up to the dam construction site split off from the main line. I wanted to see it, and to get there, ya gotta go off the beaten path a little.
As is always the case out here, getting there is half the joy, even when you don't get where you intended. There was no road of any kind out to the place on the map where the Hetch Hetchy Junction was, so I gave up on that. Instead, I decided that I would just keep ridin' the road wherever the atlas looked good. In the seeking and the wandering, I got to cross a massive plain behind the Tulloch Reservoir. Most of the activity is on the water side, which I understand, but I much prefer the long open valleys behind it. At least I won't feel crowded out should I head out and hike.
In time, I located the Arboles de los Orioles by getting off the paved county roads and gittin' gone on a little dirt road to paradise.
When I first went out this way, my mind was more on seeing the old rail lines than anything. Two weeks ago I took the dirt road so that I could reconnect and be roadside along the Sierra Railroad tracks again. That was interesting of course, but since this is as low-traffic as a train line gets, it wasn't for the machines that I got hooked on the area, but for the land the tracks went through.
The tracks themselves cross a huge expanse of the kind of foothill beauty I live for. I followed the tracks for a good stretch, but then I found myself pullin' over to hang out and just soak it in.
Even though it was a perfect weekend day, I pretty much had the road and all within sight of it all to myself.
Not all to myself of course. There are many cows on the hoof out this way, but that plays a big part in what ultimately brought me back out just this weekend past. Where there are cows, there is cow poop. Where there is cow poop, there are bugs. Where there's bugs, there's birds. Where there's birds, I prefer that there also be me.
Jump forward to this past weekend and I had 2 days of spectacular weather with which to get out and soak it in. I was too sick Saturday to go out, but Sunday, I made my way out and tried to salvage some good livin'. I decided to head to Stockton and hang out near the old railroad tower and crossing since that is one of the best spots in the state for train watching. However, when I got to town, I almost allowed myself to get sidetracked with a visit to The Asparagus Festival. I am so used to eating ready-to-eat crud that the idea of gettin' some DE-luxe produce down the pie-hole was very very tempting, but ultimately, I decided I just didn't have time. Missing out on Saturday meant I had too much to pack in to take in any detours.
Eventually I got myself situated out at the diamonds (train term for a place where two train lines intersect directly at a crossing on the same grade) and hoped to catch hot loco action. I wouldn't say there was NO action, but it felt light. I was unsatisfied. I realized that what I really needed was some time out at the spot I located out on the backroad a few weeks back. I decided that I just needed to plant myself in the sun and watch birds all afternoon. This is what I did. Sigh.
I wound my way out on CA132 for awhile - really a great road along an ancient riverbed; I will definitely spend some more time on it this summer - until I reconnected with my dirt road to paradise. My goal much of the spring was to find spots I could get to that got me away from it all even though they really weren't too far away from home. Verily I say, I have found a new favorite.
After scoping out the different little tree stands, I picked one that was the furthest west on the road. The view ahead of me was of hills, cows, and grass. From my little bit of shade, I could see over the top of some long grass, out toward another little tree or two, and an old windmill. The spot really is perfect.
My first customers were a klatch of Western Kingbirds - all in fine feather and looking awesome. The Kingbird isn't terribly exotic within California, but for someone like me, this was my first time seeing them up close and just checkin' them out. Normally, I just catch a flash of bright yellow go by, but not today. Today was good viewin'.
The little trees next to me held the real quarry however. Whereas the Kingbird is a little less shy than most birds, the other trees held the more timid - and in this case, more beautiful - birdies.
Eventually, a flash of orange leapt out of the tree and went to the windmill; and in that instant I caught my first good look at a near perfect male Bullock's Oriole, a species 100% new to me. So so awesome.
From my perch I had a perfect view of him on his perch, and indeed, this is how I spent the bulk of my afternoon...watching the Oriole, catching a breeze here and there, and soaking up the perfect late afternoon sun.
I dozed off a little (probably not too smart out in the middle of nowhere - at least one motorcycle that was on the road was headed to the car until he saw me sit all the way up...I am an episode of Forensic Files waiting to happen when I don't think!) When I came to, either my first oriole was back, or one of his buddies was. I caught a group of them coming and going on and off for at least an hour.
I make no attempt to conceal the fact that I am easily pleased. Just being able to sit out in the foothills of the Sierra, soaking up the sun, watching beautiful birds come and go, is one of the great pleasures of my life. I mean it. It does me more good to be out there under "my" tree than anything else I can think of. If asked "where would you be right now if you could be anywhere?", something like this would probably be my answer. If I could do it all day I would. My heart would turn to mush perhaps, but I want my heart to turn to mush. That is what life is for. Why should it be that almost all of humanity can find deep pleasure in some aspect of nature? What is that? Where does it come from? That question gets more thought-time in my brain than "Why are we here?" does. I think these moments are why we are here. I think this is how one can understand themselves as being connected to both the physical world around us and the spiritual energy flowing wherever there is life. It is proof to me that there is a God and that he wants us to be happy. I didn't figure this out until I was in my 30s. I wish I had always known, but that I didn't isn't something I can lament. It makes me endlessly joyful to have known it at all, and to have it be so close to me for the accessing. I lead a charmed life in so many ways.
I wonder if I shouldn't just live as bare-bones as possible, save my dough, and buy an old ranch out in the hills. I am sure they cost way way more than I could save, but also, I am not sure that I would ever feel like I could "own" such a thing. California makes much available to everyone, and I am yet to have the wonders of the state not be enough for me as they stand. To have the day to sit under my tree, watching beautiful birds, listen to them chatter, and then catch the sundown over these ancient hills is something just sitting there for the taking by any of us. I know every state has its own unique beauty, and that from this beauty, there is the same joy to be taken. I am not sure why it is California that turned the lightswitch on for me and taught me to appreciate (& love) these things. All I know is that it is worth any California Hassle to be able to reap these things. I measured the mileage home, and it is almost exactly 100 miles from my apartment parking lot to my spot. In two hours, on any day, I get to have my soul replenished. There is so much good in the world. I am glad I get these chances to remind myself of that.
Eventually, I decided I better get home and feed my wild animals. They were likely to be in full rebellion if I made them wait til after dark for their daily tuna. I am hoping to get back out there again before my surgery, but I am not positive I will be able to. For one, I have other trees I know of that are also calling me. Now that I am getting good at figuring out which trees and spots will give me the most payout, I feel like I need to get out and find some close enough to the house that I can get out to them on weeknights. For me, such a project is what passes for ambition!
I don't plan on creating epic entries every time I find a tree I like sitting under - at least not yet. Keep in mind, these are my year-round spots...all the mountain passes are still well snowed-in, and could be for another month and a half. It won't be until I get up to the high elevations that I will find the trees that attract the real exotics. Were I to find such a place up in one of the amazing passes, and were I to camp out a WHOLE WEEKEND, then you will get much epic entry action.
This here is like me getting in my first baby tooth y'all.
Posted by rudayday at April 30, 2008 05:11 PM