Month: September 2010

Fall is here

Fall has definitely arrived, even though we never really had a summer. Big Sur Valley, Clear Ridge, and town all reported light rain this morning, and I woke to the inside of a cloud, up here.

There is drip under the trees, but no real rain at my location, although in Big Sur Valley one could hear the rain on the roof. Temperature is 56 degrees currently. At least we’re not in Texas, where reports from friends indicate hurricane conditions, or Colorado where a wildfire is ripping through homes.

My, it sure does seem peaceful up here!

12:30 pm Reports of significant rain in some Big Sur locations this afternoon. Here, it got a tad brighter and for a while, I thought the sun was going to come out. Not so.

Traffic Delays this Saturday

Most of us who live in Big Sur received this notice today, but for those who live out of the area, and may be planning a visit, like our Santa Cruz or San Luis Opispo neighbors, I am providing this public service announcement. I have tried to upload a scanned copy of the letter with no luck, so instead I will give you the traffic highlights ONLY, and a website for additional information.

The Audi Best Buddies challenge will be leaving from Carmel Valley this Saturday morning and entrants will be walking and bicycling to Hearst Castle.

The Carmel Valley traffic patterns will be substantially disrupted from about 5:00 am until 8:00. A portion of Valley Greens Dr. will be closed during this time period, and there will be restricted traffic along Carmel Valley Rd until 8 am.

On Highway One, there will be delays, particularly at the beginning of the race, but those will lessen as the riders begin to spread out. The race is being overseen by the CHP, and all rules of the road are to be obeyed by the riders.

There are three other starting points at which congestion will be significant. These are: Big Sur Station; Sand Dollar Beach; and Ragged Point. The race organizers advise using caution in these areas as well.

This is a fund-raising event put on by “Best Buddies” a non-profit organization which promotes one-on-one relationships with and support for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. For more information, you can check this website:
Best Buddies

More on Illegal Campfires

And this is just one example of why campfires are illegal during the fire season, when vegetation becomes a tinder box.

09/06/2010 16:07 LPF-2811 Botchers Gap Wildfire Botchers Gap Escaped Campfire, 25 X 50

Fortunately, the fire crews were able to get to and put this one out very fast, before it grew. However, in other locations, it may take an hour to get an engine on site, and by then, that 25×50 escaped campfire could be acres and acres, and much more difficult to put out.

Typically, once there is a ban on campfires, it is not lifted until after the first rains. Fortunately, the summer tourist season is over. Unfortunately nice weather will bring campers out for another couple months, before the first rains come. We all take the ban on campfires very seriously here in Big Sur.

And yet another illegal campfire # 5897

Okay, I am joking about which number this is. I haven’t kept track.

09/05/2010 19:55 LPF-2794 (New) Wildfire Sand Dollar Day Use

What are people thinking? I know what they are thinking. Because, I know how they get to my blog, and right now people are googling to find out what the fine is for an illegal campfire. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but that seems to indicate whoever these people are, they are doing a cost effective analysis. You decide.

The fine is $5000 and/or 6 months in jail. And, you WILL get caught, as fire is visible FOREVER at night, and all of us who live here will call it in. And we have a couple of USFS cops who love to get in people’s faces, and at least one of them will probably search you, your vehicle, your tents, etc. Probably not legally, but whatcha going to do?

Do you have any idea how visible fires are at night – for MILES. Time to go out and check!

Fire in Big Sur

4:10 pm – LPF reports: “Forward spread of the fire has been stopped. No aircraft required at this time.”
CHP reports:
4:10PM 35-40MINS DURING FOR RD CLOSURE
3:48PM 1039 MTY COMM, RD CLOSED TO ALL TRAFF
3:47PM NO ESTIMATED TIME FOR CLOSURE/OPENING
3:47PM COAST RD WILL BE CLOSED

At an earlier point CALFIRE was asking for closures of both Highway One and Coast Rd, but I doubt that is still in effect.

4:00 pm – closest shot. Last report (45 mins ago) was 3 acres, moderate rate of spread. All photos below are by Debbie Reed. In my haste, I forgot the captions on most of them!

3:45 Closer shots:

I believe this is the shot where you can see the helicopter.


3:30 pm – Fire is currently 3 acres in size, with a moderate rate of spread. Burning in Redwoods and other veg.

Sur Fire by Debbie Reed

I don’t know what dispatch is naming this one, could be Molera, but for now, I’m calling it the Sur Fire

3:15 a friend coming home from town noted the fire. She says it is in between the El Sur Ranch and Andrew Molera. She indicates CAL-FIRE has responded, and that she just saw a helicopter and one plane working the fire. She has photos she is sending to me, and as soon as I get them, I will post them here.

At 2:39, WildCAD LPF reported a new fire:

09/04/2010 14:39 LPF-2756 (New) Wildfire Hwy 1, mm 51 near Andrew Molera

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Summer’s Last Hurrah

The Labor Day weekend is traditionally the end of Summer for Big Sur. Kids are back in school, parents are back to work, and the retirement crowd in the motor homes come out to play.

I hope to take most, if not all, this weekend off, to enjoy the hot weather and stay out of the way of the end of summer celebrations! But I will be working on Part 3 of the debate over the MCCWPP so it will be ready next week.

People outnumber the Seals

Controlled Burn at Ft. Ord

It started yesterday, and the smoke was bothering a friend in town. This morning a smoke alert was put out for the Big Sur region. So …

That smoke you see is probably the controlled burn at Ft. Ord, but given the triple digits temps in the mountains of Big Sur this weekend, and given that is is the last hurrah of summer – Labor Day weekend, report any other smoke you may see.

Header Photo Contest #3

For this Fall season’s contest for the header photo at the top of the blog, the subject is JADE – rocks, jewelry, sculpture, Jade Festival – wherever your creativity leads you in this direction. Each person should submit no more than 2 photos by midnight PDT on September 13th. These photos need to be in landscape format, and preferably, full sized, rather than cropped. Last contest many photographers submitted photos cropped to fit my header format, but the main vote getters were all full-sized. On or about September 14th, I will post the top ten photos for readers to vote on. The winner will win lunch at Lucia Lodge or if not local, an SD card, courtesy of Ken Harlan of Lucia Lodge.

So, you have 2 weeks to sort through your existing photographs, or to go out and take new ones to submit for this quarterly contest! Find your favorite piece of Jade, put it in the sun to show off that gorgeous color and submit it in the next two weeks!