Bodie Ghost (mining) town 10/27

This largely intact mining town from 1900s is a fascinating look into history of mining and life in the wild wild west!. It's now a California State Park, so has some maintenance and infrastructure to ensure it remains ghostly and untrammeled by present day prospectors. It's a great place to roam around. I love the textures and forms of the old wooden buildings, rotting curtains, and dusty artifacts in the windows as it was abandoned long ago.

Lake Tahoe and Buckeye hot springs

While in Lake Tahoe, we asked a local what she would recommend to friends and family to see while in the area. She mentioned the Eagle Creek Trail and Eagle falls areas and Taylor Creek. She said that the Kokanee Salmon have started to run back up Taylor creek to spawn, and there are great fall colors there too. If we're lucky we may get to see a bear fishing too! We saw this a while ago in Alaska, fantastic! She added that Buckeye hot spring would be a good visit too, particularly if we're headed south.

We had a fantastic experience hiking up to Eagle lake, in to the Desolation wilderness, starting early- the trailhead is next to a super popular state park, Emerald Bay, so fills up quickly. The trees and granite are fabulous, and the fall colors added an extra punch.

Susan and Ginger on th trail to Eagle Lake, Desolation wilderness.

Eagle creek trail, Desolation wilderness

Returning from the Emerald Bay area, we did stop near Taylor Creek despite the crowds. The Aspen in the area were gloriously golden in the sun, and indeed there were kokanee swimming upstream. I was a bit shocked at how small they look- about the size of trout. I would have liked to see a bear, but seems like just the wrong time of day. Headed back, near the congregation of families with strollers, dogs, bikes and kids running around, a Ranger came running up the path like a maniac, hollering at people to get back. We got to see our bear! And a circus of people running towards and away from the scene. Sorry, I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of that!

Kokanee Salmon spawning in Taylor Creek, Lake Tahoe

Leaving town, we did head to Buckeye hot spring with anticipation of a solitary wild soak, hahaha! The route took us through some fabulous areas of fall colors. The town of Markleeville had a great little coffee shop with a parade of people chatting about the happenings of the area. Seems that "leaf peeping" is a thing here too :)

The hot spring was rather busy, but we did find some time to soak in one of the almost hot spring in the morning- expectations reset!

Thoughts about water

The juxtaposition of movements are fascinating to me. A river rushes wildly downstream, yet there are tiny places where parts are bouncing back, or moving in other directions. Back eddies are common, where the streamflow is interrupted and diverted in another direction, the dynamic energy forcing the water to flow briefly in the wrong direction but in three dimensions.

Over, under back, countless trajectories of sideways, spray, wind, rocks, trees, all ultimately downstream, yet for that precise instant- water defies the physics of the streamflow or gravity. Maybe there is a longing to connect with this… going against the flow, doing your own thing?

Watching water for me is like watching the flames of a campfire, or the clouds moving past. I wonder why water has such a pull on many people, the ocean, waterfalls, or even lakeside. There's a connection that I can't quite comprehend.

Hat Creek in Lassen Volcanic National Park provides some incredible textures and movements for the streamflow.

Markleeville Colors

Travelling through, we had to stop in Markleeville- it’s charming with the Autumn in full swing. Cold temps are on the way though!. Here are some images from recent adventures. Lassen Volcanic National Park has some great colors, and dark skies and the comet. It’s hard to keep up, I’ll post recent photos soon!