Watercressfalls, CA, USA (Picture intensive warning)

[Plantbrain]

I live in a strange place to many of you and the reverse is true as well
It's nice to have so much habitat to chose from here.

This is a little side waterfall that tends to be rather stable year round near the base of the sierra Buttes which jut out about 7000ft above the valley below. This is also the site of the infamous Downieville downhill Mountain bike single track. 5500ft of descending glory through clear waterfall filled rivers through to 20 miles down there forest canyons to quaint towns below. Sorry, no helmet cam. This was also one of the major gold mining sites of the past, a 108 lb gold nugget(1729oz! or about 1.1 million$ for one piece!) was found on the sides of this mountain. Also, Whitewater kayaking in the north Yuba river is awesome (maybe later next month). And then there's hiking/climbing the buttes and pretty alpine lakes and relatively few people.

The plants are moss and water cress and they grow so lush in the canyon here going up to the Packer lake saddle.


Here's the buttes, a craggy volcanic outcropping, lupine and indian paintbrush in the foreground.

Yes, I climbed to the top peak there: looking south to Lake Tahoe:










Such a nice little waterfall, I'll model my own swimming hole/pool/wetland/pond/stream after this. I wish I had this in my backyard.
Some day soon. :smile:

Regards,
Tom Barr

[StanChung]

Awesome pics Tom, gives a true sense of piece and calm. Thanks for sharing.

[benny]

Hi Tom,

Wow!! Look at all that space!! You are right about that being a different world for the folks over here in Singapore.

I suppose those moss and water cres won't be good in the aquariums as they are more suited to cold water?

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Cheers,

[kuching]

Tom, it's another paradise on earth!!!

[XnSdVd]

Must... resist.... urge to.... hug... screen... *cringe*

But seriously Tom, that place is beautiful. It's a rather sad that our own National Environment Agency seems to be bulldozing a large tract of secondary rainforest for(And i kid you not) a new nature trail!!

[Plantbrain]

Like many tales of woe and destruction.....there rises from the ashes..new birth.........you cannot have creation without destruction, so restoration ecology has massive new areas that can be restored and fixed.
That's the good news.

You need to add the economic aspects to the bill.

This place provides clean drinking water/water.
Forest products
Gold
Recreational value
Soil
Reduced pollution
Better health for the folks using the resource etc.

These are worth a lot more than you think.
There are some very good papers on the topic and things like those Thai shrimp farmers that are heavily subsidized actually could not survive $$ wise as they cut down the Mangrove forest, that's one somewhat close example.

They claim they need to destroy things to make a living yet the living it really ag welfare or corporate of developer welfare at your expense through taxes........

I'll be damned if I'll sit and allow that to occur.
They must pay their share like the rest of us.



Regards,
Tom Barr

[Plantbrain]

FYI, there are some MTB folks in SG, this place is right along the way and you see this water fall each time you go back up and do a different loop down*(there are 4-6 version on 3 different ridges, perhaps more) up to the saddle for the down hill (2000 meters of descent, over 20 miles, with only a 1/4 mile uphill, all single track and faster than heck!):



What a rider looks like doing 40mph:


The water fall by the bridge:



The bridge over the river:


Lower reaches:

Can you say Kayak?

This is what you do at the end when you get back to town after the downhill:


Now that's a good time, you do that 2x and take a different route for each and you have had a good day.

Just north(about 60 miles as the crow flies) of this spot there is Feather Falls, 640 feet:



and Burney Falls about 150 miles north:



Neat places.

Here's some more alpine pics from up there at the top:

Granite bare rock mountains, awesome places to hike:


Looking down 2000-3000ft below at the lakes:


Here it is nearly June and it's 35C down where I live and they still have frozen lakes:



Enjoy

Regards,
Tom Barr

[budak]

are there fishes or other aquatic life in these montane or glacial lakes?

[Plantbrain]

The Golden Trout is one of the very few true alpine native species, although not in this area naturally, about 300 miles south. There are giant leaf pond weeds in these lakes though, massive things, they get as big as E. azurea but have wider fluffy leaves, spectacular plant and grows well in tropical tanks

BTW, the lower hills in this lake pic is covered with dead manzanita driftwood
The rocks are awesome here too, blue granitic yuba river stone, pyroclastic skree(the butts are a 350 million year old volcanic protrusion that forms on the seafloor and have since been thrusted up. It's very resistant to erosion and that's why it sticks up so much here).

Oh yea, that trout picture:

From the farm:



In their native range:



Regards,
Tom Barr

[benny]

In their native range:

Wow! They look so different when view underwater! Very nice!

Cheers,

[Plantbrain]

Taste good too

You all can have those lazy Golden Aro's, I'll take these and waterfall anyday

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Plantbrain]

Wow! They look so different when view underwater! Very nice!

Cheers,

Well, the above are farm raised, they sell them around here in fish markets.
The other is wild on near Mt Whitney. You have a long hike to get to their native ranges, they are smaller trout and not as pure gold in color.

My ideal "pond" includes a Watercress cold waterfall,moss, Some redwood sfor cover and nice pool full of native golden trout.

It would deep enough to swim in and I'd not use nor need chlorine for this "pool", more like a swimming hole. The water would run underground to cool it and then help for irrigation etc.

That would a cool design and this plant and these fish can do well in Marin where I plan on buying a home near some Redwoods etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr