Overcast and wet through the early afternoon. Some breaks in the clouds and a little sun this evening. Temperatures in the 50s.
The rain made it easy to stay inside through much of the day. I did make it out later this afternoon.
Before heading out I finally wrote up my long-term ibutton temperature logging project. I first put ibuttons out in late 2008, and continue to maintain them at 6 sites, each requiring visits 3-5 times per year.
This afternoon’s outing was to Blue Lake Campground. I had considered going up Beaver Lake trail (at least up the hill part), but was feeling tired. Instead, I made my way down a channel of Sawmill Creek that’s only active during times of higher flow.
I had poked around there last May after Connor made some interesting (to me, at least) observations I wanted to follow up on.
I didn’t find as much today, but wasn’t looking too hard, either.
I did notice the channel bed was mostly rather large rocks rather than smaller gravel and cobbles like I would expect in Indian River. I’m guessing this is mostly due to the lake up stream, and relatively few places where gravel could enter the river between the lake and this location. It’s narrowly contained by the canyon just above the campground, and around the campground itself, the river banks are reinfoced with large shield rock. Presumably high water events rapidly carry downstream what little small rock enters the river.
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it almost looked like there was some fresh snow at some of the higher elevations (maybe above 3700 feet or so).
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
