The Golden State

It is another drought year in California.  Our hills are golden brown.  Parched.  Fall seems to be arriving early, with colors either turning or appearing to do so.  Fire-red poison oak, usually that hue in September and October, dots the hillsides.  The contrast between our flowing rivers and the Pacific Ocean, on one hand, and the barren hillsides and bluffs, on the other, cannot be more stark.  Water, the ultimate temptress, is so close, yet so far away. 

At present, water reductions are recommended.  Mandatory water cuts and/or rationing may not be far away.  What to do?  Conserve, of course.  Re-landscape, perhaps, if you have the means.  My backyard cries for rain (or a desert motif). Advocate for more sustainable water use?  Surely.  Go rafting?  Counterintuitively, yes.  While many rivers are fed directly by snowmelt, some, like the American and the Tuolumne, are supported by upstream reservoirs, which release water on a regular and predictable basis, enabling runs through September.  A recent visit to the South Fork of the American River (https://www.aorafting.com/river/south-fork-american/welcome.htm) confirmed this.  Sure, the water level was low (1300 cfm) and at times the queue of rafts resembled the Highway 101/92 interchange, but the river did not disappoint, and Class III+ rapids like Satan’s Cesspool (who names these?!) and Hospital Bar, followed by the more humane Recovery Room (Class III), were challenging and lots of fun.  Rowan, our guide, was great, and at the end of the 12-mile trip, I was already planning the Middle Fork (Class III-IV), for next summer, but hoping, needless to say, for more verdant hillsides and canyons.  The Tuolumne (Class IV-IV+) is another good option.  I had rafted it in 1995 after rafting the South Fork as a warm up.  Our guide claimed to be, and given her expert maneuvering of the raft through Clavey Falls (Class IV+), I am sure was, the stunt double for Meryl Street in The River Wild.  Two years ago, I rafted Glenwood Canyon (Class II) on the Colorado River and for the sake of completeness I should probably include my self-guided (Class 0, if there is one) trip down the Deschutes River in Sun River, Oregon.  For more information on California rafting, see https://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/tomstienstra/article/The-drought-might-be-bad-but-California-river-16346530.php

A vacation would not be complete without a few hikes, detailed below:  

Torrey Pines Via Glider Port and Blacks Beach Trails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/torrey-pines-via-gliderport-and-blacks-beach-trails

Border Field State Park: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=664

Bishop Peak Trail From Patricia Drive: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/bishop-peak-trail-from-patricia-drive

Last, but not least, I include a few observations: 

• There are few spots in our Golden State as relaxing and laid back as San Diego. Having lived in La Jolla for four years (while attending UCSD), I am partial, of course. Water sports (swimming, surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, etc.) abound. The ocean is a balmy 70 degrees. The sand is warm and clean. A beach run, on Coronado’s Silver Strand State Beach (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=654), for example, is a no-brainer. While expensive, San Diego is still a better bargain than the San Francisco Bay Area. It is also younger, or so it seemed, attending the Padres game at Petco Park. Alternatively, I could just be getting older. Downtown San Diego has its issues, but, compared to downtown San Francisco, it is clean and welcoming. Biotech is booming. Firms with a deep engineering culture have very much established their roots in San Diego. But for my freshman and sophomore (Warren) apartments, UCSD is unrecognizable. A condo on or near the beach sounds great right now.
• It is probably a matter of time before indoor masking will once again be mandatory in most California counties. Los Angeles county led the charge, and Yolo and Alameda have followed so far. San Diego county has adopted the CDC recommendation (advising indoor masks for vaccinated individuals). California is still open, I suppose, but the hopes of June 15, 2021 are receding.
• California is a huge and extremely varied state. Driving it has reminded me why, while others have moved to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, to name a few states, and the despite the myriad of complexities of this sometimes (often?) unmanageable state, its dysfunctional politics (two gubernational recalls in the last 18 years), and cost of living, I am still here. On the second to last day of our trip, we drove from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, with stops in Westwood and Santa Monica, before proceeding north on the inimitable Pacific Coast Highway, past the bluffs and aquamarine waters of Malibu and continuing along the coast, before turning inland, cruising Highway 101, traversing San Marcos Pass on Highway 154, marveling at vineyards and other (remarkably green) farmland, before returning to Highway 101 and gliding into SLO.

Comments welcomed.