Alternatives to Driving

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Hikes Beyond The South Bay (non-Local)

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Local Hikes

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Guadalupe Group Blog

Guadalupe Group Blog

Little Sur River - Pico Blanco

I pass Dave coming up from the river’s gulch, clean now after a dip. He says it’s fine. I know it’s cold. The river below is white and loud, the gulch and the towering redwoods on both sides make it rather dark compared to the bright light on the compground meadow. I pass the bend, and lo! -a twenty foot waterfall into a 60’wide pool, and deep.
What a surprise! I’ve nearly forgotten the fall’s presence. It was autumn, low water, that I saw it first, just a few years ago. Now it’s impressive so much more. The delights of the Big Sur region.

I find these Big Sur redwood glades (most often gulchs) spectacular to the imagination. The beauty of tall, straight boles reaching skyward, those trunks, 4,5,6 feet across at chest level, the largest things by far in this coastal forest. I forever find myself expecting to find one just larger than the last. Everywhere they cast shade, deep shade, for they have dark leaves on long branches, drooping down to take advantage of bright light at the sunlit edge, or a possible opening made by another fallen giant. Not only the leaves throw the shadows but the quantity of standing wood, it’s like a wall of standing lumber, blocks the light, only vertical rays slits reach the forest floor, brown with spent leaves and twigs. The understory improvished.

The next day we are off to see the further reaches of the water shed. As long as the trail follows the marble (so is named Pico Blanco, White Peak) and faces south, we travel through grasslands, but more sheltered slopes or soil changes makes the chaparral or forest close in. This trail hasn’t been maintained for many years, lots of fallen logs to climb over and brush to push aside or duck beneath taller leaners, not too bad with day packs, I wouldn’t want to do it with heavy pack. The full impact of Sudden Oak Death syndrome is apparent here. All the Tanoaks are gray skeletons. The ever present small landslides with attendant trail disappearances make for challenging tracking. We finally reach the upper level of the south Fork, redwoods and chain ferns obvious. Redwoods
don’t extend much past the fog and unless they can tap into the stream’s water, they don’t climb the slope. Much more light down here. We lunch, watching the full current, not hoppable across yet, listening to its sweet chatter as well as that of the spring birds. Mellow. We return by mid afternoon, 12 miles round trip.

Everywhere on the this trip, underneath oaks, where sufficient light entered, sky blue Iris’s were blooming better than I’ve ever seen in the past. They were the dominant wildflower this time. The half mile reach of riparian redwood forest at the trailhead is worthy of a gentle day hike by the more sedentary person. It was like a quiet Big Sur State Park forest - no crowds. Try it sometime.

Going Solar

In December of 2004, we were finally able to make our home a solar home. In preparation for putting up our solar PV and solar hot water panels, we made our home more energy friendly. Some of the things we did are as follows:

• Replaced worn out appliances with energy efficient ones
• Replaced burned out incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones
• Added insulation to the attic
• Installed a clothes line to let the sun and wind dry our clothes
• Got a solar oven to reduce energy use
• Installed double pane windows
• Put in California native plants to shade the house in the summer
  

By the time the solar panels were installed, we had reduced our energy footprint enough to install a 1.4 kW (effective) system rather than the original 3.0 kW system it would have taken. We also ended the 2005 year a net energy producer at that. We even produce energy on cloudy days.

The solar hot water does a great job but does need direct sunlight. A couple of hours will do it. We use it to feed our tankless water heater, which we use as a backup. The tankless water heater will not even turn on if the water is hot enough coming in from the solar hot water panel which it is quite often. We have cut our natural gas use in half just with this set up.

The sun oven works great, even on cold days so long as there is sun. It can cook 3 potatoes and 2 yams together on a sunny day in about 2 hours. We have also cooked brownies, veggie stew, veggie chili, bread, and more in it. It doesn't heat up the house and the cooking smells stay outside as well as saving energy.

If you have any questions on how to go solar, reduce greenhouse gas emission, conserve energy, and save money in the long term, please ask.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the Guadalupe Group blog. Please feel free to post items about great hikes you have taken, environmental issues, sustainability steps you have taken, and/or questions on the environment.