Raspberry Spring
Pine Mtn, Calif.
June 2011
Cool thing #18 about being unemployed; plenty of time to explore. I had heard rumours of an old Basque sheep herders camp from the 1880s somewhere just off of Reyes Peak somewhere down in Boulder Canyon. I was a little skeptical at first, I mean who had ever heard of Basque sheep herders in SoCal? Turns out the Basques have a pretty rich tradition of cattle ranching and sheep raising in and around Ventura since the mid-1820s. There is still a working Basque cattle ranch in Wheeler Canyon even today. I had no idea.
I've been up to the Pine Mountain Ridge literally hundreds of times since coming to California. With the exception of a few drunken wanderings and the odd trip to check out newly found boulders I had not really ventured too far from the known climbing and camping areas. It was time to stretch the legs and see what was out there. I spent a few minutes checking out the topo and set out, decaf coffee in one hand, camera in the other. The cool thing about Reyes Peak and the Pine Mountain Ridge is that it is pretty damn near impossible to get lost. Its perfect for exploring. Whenever you are tired or had enough you simply start walking up. Eventually you will hit the ridge road and then its pretty easy walking back to where ever your calling home for the night. You would have to be a damn fool (or a member of the Sierra Club) to get lost out there. As long as you know to walk uphill you are good to go.
That being said we found the old spring easy enough. There isnt much left, just the remnants of a wooden barrel to collect the water. Surprisingly the spring was still running and spitting out water in good form. It was rather surprising actually. I had only a general idea where we were headed and honestly getting there was only of minor importance. Before I knew it I heard running water. I looked around but only saw the dry brown and red forest around me. Then looking down, way down, I saw this tiny patch of green sprouting out of the dusty forest floor. Ahh the spring. We hung out for a bit then got back to exploring.
We found the spring in under an hour and decided to just keep on walking. So off we went with no particular destination in mind. Off to see what we could see. Off to do a little exploring and random wandering. It was a rad day.
Pine Mtn, Calif.
June 2011
Cool thing #18 about being unemployed; plenty of time to explore. I had heard rumours of an old Basque sheep herders camp from the 1880s somewhere just off of Reyes Peak somewhere down in Boulder Canyon. I was a little skeptical at first, I mean who had ever heard of Basque sheep herders in SoCal? Turns out the Basques have a pretty rich tradition of cattle ranching and sheep raising in and around Ventura since the mid-1820s. There is still a working Basque cattle ranch in Wheeler Canyon even today. I had no idea.
I've been up to the Pine Mountain Ridge literally hundreds of times since coming to California. With the exception of a few drunken wanderings and the odd trip to check out newly found boulders I had not really ventured too far from the known climbing and camping areas. It was time to stretch the legs and see what was out there. I spent a few minutes checking out the topo and set out, decaf coffee in one hand, camera in the other. The cool thing about Reyes Peak and the Pine Mountain Ridge is that it is pretty damn near impossible to get lost. Its perfect for exploring. Whenever you are tired or had enough you simply start walking up. Eventually you will hit the ridge road and then its pretty easy walking back to where ever your calling home for the night. You would have to be a damn fool (or a member of the Sierra Club) to get lost out there. As long as you know to walk uphill you are good to go.
That being said we found the old spring easy enough. There isnt much left, just the remnants of a wooden barrel to collect the water. Surprisingly the spring was still running and spitting out water in good form. It was rather surprising actually. I had only a general idea where we were headed and honestly getting there was only of minor importance. Before I knew it I heard running water. I looked around but only saw the dry brown and red forest around me. Then looking down, way down, I saw this tiny patch of green sprouting out of the dusty forest floor. Ahh the spring. We hung out for a bit then got back to exploring.
We found the spring in under an hour and decided to just keep on walking. So off we went with no particular destination in mind. Off to see what we could see. Off to do a little exploring and random wandering. It was a rad day.
Spring.
Mosses.
Raspberry Flats.
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