A Hike through a once flowing creek

Roughly a week or so after the hike that I wrote about in my last post I felt compelled to go back out to see just how bad the drought and extreme heat were impacting the surrounding landscape. So, on a Sunday morning I grabbed my camera, packed my bag, and stocked up on water before heading out to explore. Rather than hit the trails, like I normally tend to do, I opted to drop down into a once flowing creek, now dry creek bed, to see what, if anything, was hanging on. Sadly, not that much remained.

All that lingered water wise was concentrated into the areas that were dammed up, as well as a handful of semi-deep puddles. However, much to my surprise, the pockets of water were full of life. I was expecting to see a frog or two, as well as some insect activity, but certainly did not expect to see any fish, of which there were plenty. One of the areas that sat below the threshold of a dam was packed with snakes. I did not stick around long enough in that spot to figure out what type they were. It was, nonetheless, still neat to see that not all life around and the creek had been lost and was still managing to hang on. It will be interesting, at least to me, to go back and see the impact that the recent showers have had, and if we have had enough rain fall to give the wildlife an expanded habitat.

The hike itself was rather uneventful, which is by no means a bad thing. I spent roughly two hours chasing pockets of morning light, exploring, and taking photographs along the way. I would have stayed longer, but the heat was rising rather fast and I decided to head back to the house.

Enjoy the randomness from the outing in the gallery below.

-Tyler