Friday, July 17th 2009

At the gym the other day I over heard one of the guys talking about “Whitewater” and how his dog slipped on a rock, cut her foot and fell into the river. Wait a minute? River? Was he talking about some state park up north? I didn’t know so in between presses I casually asked him what Whitewater was only to find out that 20 minutes from my condo is a preserve in Whitewater Canyon. All this time and I never knew an actual river flowed through this area from the mountains. Needless to say, I canceled my plans for the next day and told Petey we were going to see some water.

I was stoked to find how close this thing was to me. The drive east into the mountains became cooler and greener; always a good indication at this time of year. The road took us to a Ranger Station. All around the log cabin were warnings of mountain lions, rattlesnakes, black bears and bighorn sheep. It was nearly 100 degrees out so the only thing I really had to worry about was the rattlers and since my plan was to be in or around the river I wasn’t that concerned. Besides, those guys are pretty considerate when it comes to letting you know that you or your dog is too close for their liking.

A short walk along a very primitive stone-lined path led us west to a beautiful oasis-like scene. It was a river, not a creek, but a wide, flowing river that moved so fast in some spaces that it became “white water” from the small waves that crested over the rocks and such. I felt like it was Christmas morning! I unleashed Petey and jumped down the small dirt cliff, slid all the way down to the river and ran into the water. As I sat on a rock and felt the water creep up my legs and soak my shorts, I looked down and schools of tadpoles in all sorts of development were wiggling all around my feet. The water was so clear that I was tempted to dunk my head and have a drink, but for obvious reasons, I did not. About an hour into the walk we came upon a rugged shelter made of sticks, twine and brush. This is the shit that you see on that Discovery Channel show about the guy who is in the Outback or somewhere completely remote and drinks his piss and eats worms.

Being here has not been easy, but having this jewel in my backyard makes it a little better for sure.

This entry was posted by Johnny on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 4:39 PM and is filed under Out & About, PD, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.