The
Confluence Winter 2005
Climb the Mountains and get their
good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy, while cares drop off like autumn
leaves.
- John Muir
Outings
Owl
Outing
Give a Hoot! Search for the Elusive Great Horned Owl's nesting
spot
Friday Evening, March 4, from 6:30 pm on
Great Horned owls are year round residents of the American River
canyons. Occasionally at dusk we are able to catch a glimpse of
these magnificent nocturnal birds hunting for mice, rodents and
other small animals near the canyon rim. Adults mate for life.
Each year around this time the pairs engage in their courtship
ritual and select a nesting site, usually a hollow cavity in a
tree. Under the guidance of Audubon birder Deren Ross we will
visit some of the Great Horned owl's likely nesting areas and
"hoot" for them using a tape recorder and other calling
strategies. Other possible owls we will be looking for are screech,
pigmy and barn owls. We will meet at a central location in Auburn
and carpool to our "hooting" sites. Wear warm clothes.
Bring a flashlight and a walkie talkie if you have one.
For more information and to sign up for this outing contact Deren
Ross @ 885-9740 or PARC @ 885-8878 or e-mail parc@jps.net.
Early
Spring Wildflowers Hike to Codfish Creek Falls Near Poderosa Bridge
Saturday, March 5, 10 am to approx. 1 pm
Hike this family-friendly, relatively easy (3.5 mile round trip),
interpretive trail along the North Fork of the American River
through the canyon's wildflower meadows to the exciting aquatic
world of Codfish Creek. We will use Heather Mehl's interpretive
pamphlet to help guide our observations. Wear sturdy shoes. Bring
wildflower ID books and a hand lens or magnifying glass.
For more information, or to sign up for this hike call PARC
@ 885-8878 or e-mail parc@jps.net
Green Valley Hike
Saturday, March 19. Meet 9:00 am in Auburn
Celebrate the Spring Equinox with a strenuous
7 mile round trip hike, into this historic gold camp valley on
the North Fork of the American River near Alta, with local historian
and naturalist Russel Towle. Wear strudy shoes. Bring a lunch
and water.
More about the Green Valley
For more info and to sign up contact PARC @ 885-8878 or e-mail
parc@jps.net
American
River Earth Day Clean-up
Saturday, April 23, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm
Meet at Confluence. For more
information, call 887-9314
More information about this event coming soon to this web page.
Green
Valley - A Portal to Wild & Scenic Adventure
- by Russell Towle
Green Valley forms a vast amphitheater in the American
River Canyon, walled off from civilization, as it were, by the
2400-foot cliffs of Giant Gap. Two thousand people resided here
following the Gold Rush, working the rich gravels, deposited to
a greater depth and extent here than elsewhere. The old trail
by which mule trains once supplied the miners makes for a rough
piece of hiking, into a magical world of pools and riffles and
forests and knolls. It can only be called strenuous to walk first
in, and then up and out, of Green Valley.
Green Valley is unique in its geology, for the length
and the breadth and the depth of its vastness was hewn from weak
and shattered serpentine, while to the west, completely different
rocks, of much greater resistance to erosion, frame the tremendous
gorge of Giant Gap. Ice Age gravels in Green Valley were worked
by hydraulic mines and tunnels. Many visitors to the place seem
to feel the presence of spirits and ghosts, and half a century
ago, the would-be prophet Dr. Wallace Halsey proclaimed that one
of two California pyramids constructed by aliens (yes, from Outer
Space) is to be found in Green Valley. (Halsey deftly placed the
other Alien Pyramid in the Owens Valley.)
So, gently wafting the spirits aside, or perhaps
welcoming their company, we will make the great descent, and then
that terrible terrible climb, from the absolute depths of the
North Fork American.
Outing - Green Valley Hike, March 19
