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I Feel The Earth Move.........

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I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby flybob » July 12th, 2013, 9:58 am

This is kinda of a dated story, but I have had many in the cue for posting…..and as a lot of you know, sometimes life just gets in the way.

After my trip to the GTW this year, I got to thinking about the trek across one of more serious rockfalls, and some of the comments that were made by others who witnessed Jon and I traverse the huge boulders, actually I don’t think boulders applies, I my mind I have always considered boulders to be big roundish smooth rocks…..these were far from it, fresh jagged, sharp edges! One false step and you could easily end up with a bloodletting gash…..or worse.

In any event, it reminded me of a post I was going to do last summer.
Mark, Rob and I, hit up one of our local creeks to cool our feet, take some stress off life and maybe catch a few fish. On the way in, I was astonished to see that one of the more familiar landmarks had literally fallen down! Those of you that know the place, know the place.

Here is the scary part, I have been walking under this overhang for many years, I even nicknamed it Turtle Rock because the shape reminded me of a turtle’s head….It also looked like the head of an AT-AT from Star Wars. But every time I walked under it, I got the hee-bee-jee-bees! I would look up and think, man if this thing ever broke off, I would hope that nobody was under it, and quickly get out from its shadow!

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HOLY MOLY, I am just darned glad that this happened when no one was around, I am presuming. The sound must have been incredible, as I have heard some rock slides before.

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It was still very dangerous traversing the scree, with all the sharp edges jutting straight up, daring you put your hand down. And there are still large sections that have not yet fallen. One huge chunk landed in what used to be a very nice deep pool. It will be very interesting to see how the next BIG rainy season moves this stuff around, if we ever get another big rainy season in S. Cal.

Stuff we just don’t think about, how many hundreds of years, or more, had that rock just hung there……
It’s not just the animals you have to worry about…..

Be Safe out there,
bob
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(rmg/2012)
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby 1mocast » July 12th, 2013, 10:07 am

Great reminder...I have a photo of some edges that were sharper than knives...
Dead emoji's due to Photobucket. :(
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby dray » July 12th, 2013, 10:22 am

Whoa, that's crazy! Thanks for the litteral, heads up..
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby WanderingBlues » July 12th, 2013, 10:27 am

They call those overhangs "Witch's Toungues" because if you are standing atop them, you have no idea who wicked it is below....

That sure was a nice pool before Mother Nature threw a curve!
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby lucfish » July 12th, 2013, 12:05 pm

What better way to go than fishing. Just kidding, it always pays to be careful.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby darrin terry » July 12th, 2013, 2:47 pm

While that fall would have been cool to witness, it would be scary to have been near when it happened. It's certainly not likely to be there when this sort of thing happens, but thanks for the reminder to be aware. It's so easy to not look up when busy fishing. Nice post Bob and cool pics.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby Dry Fly Rie » July 12th, 2013, 3:07 pm

Wow, that's a big chunk of rock that fell. Kind of scary.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby fly addict » July 12th, 2013, 3:52 pm

In the olden days when I was into 4 wheeling and mountain biking, I went to Moab Utah. I was setting up a camp close to the base of one those giant sandstone spires, and down came a chunk of rock that just exploded on impact. At the point I moved my camp a good 200 yards from the base of that rock. At night we could hear rocks crashing down continuously.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby Rob909 » July 13th, 2013, 8:49 pm

I couldn't get through that area fast enough that day. I kept thinking more would come down as soon as I started through!! Scary.


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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby Jason » July 14th, 2013, 7:11 am

Crazy! You never know I guess. I go to Yosemite a few times per year and I'm always looking up at those rock walls and thinking "if there's a big one......".

On the other hand, when I'm fishing solo and rock hopping I often think that all it would take is a small slip and bump on the head and I could be meet my end in face down in 6" of water. Of course this never occurs to me when I'm fishing with others, even though we'll go for 30-60 minutes without seeing one another. It could just as easily happen then, but it doesn't seem to occur to me.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby Ants » July 14th, 2013, 9:43 pm

One of my Bodfish neighbors grew up in the area and has been associated with SCE activities around the powerhouses. My neighbor is very selective as to where he would park in the lower Kern Canyon. He has seen enough rock come tumbling down due to rain, drying, and earthquakes. Under the rubble of rocks adjacent to the lower most powerhouse in the canyon is an SCE truck that was perfectly good until it was buried by rocks. No need to dig it up now - it is waiting for the future archaelogists.

As for me scampering around the canyon rocks (solo), conservative actions are good.

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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby 87TT » July 16th, 2013, 7:57 am

I have been to that spot many times before and after and it is a whole lot more interesting getting across now. A few years ago, my wife and I were backpacking in up above Saddlebag Lake and were awakened in the middle of the night by what sounded like a cross between an earthquake and a 747 landing on top of us. It went on for about a minute or two. It turned out to be a large slide up the hill from our camp. Fortunately it didn't come close. Based on the rocks around the camp, it had some time in the past.
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Re: I Feel The Earth Move.........

Postby The Steady Foot » July 16th, 2013, 4:18 pm

Nice!! Cool photo. I remember scoffing at a buddy who was always in a hurry to get out from under that overhang. I really thought he was worried for nothing. He'll get a laugh when I share this with him.
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too, you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe....
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