I ran into a wonderful country lady at the Cookie Crock today (hi, Joan!) and we talked about water and the mountains and human interference. Her spring is doing great. No change in forever. My spring is great. No change in at least 65 years. Neither of us interfere. We catch what the mountains gives us, leave a little runoff for the birds, the critters, and the goddess, but don’t try to get it from deep below, or make it do what it wants not to do. As long as we let it run, it will always run.
All that as the precursor to a couple photos I took on Saturday, on the way to King City.
This was the reason I went to King City. It was at least 2 and 1/2 feet in diameter. This tree blocked Plaskett. Duke, of the USFS eventually dragged it out of the way. I love the drive to King City, although it is long and tough.
This is a creek-fed pond at Chalk Camp off So Coast Rd. I was shocked to see so much water in it.
And this is a creek that feeds into or becomes the Nacemiento River. We are in the third year of a drought, but there is water, in the mountains where no one interferes.
You can find more of her photographs here: https://dellahuff.smugmug.com/Big-Sur
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Great images, wonderful words Kate.
So how does water get from your spring to your tap, Wi-Fi? Most people dig out a basin around a spring and then pipe the water to their residences. That's called "development" - i.e. interference, is it not? That's what everyone I know has done in Big Sur. I also know of many springs that have dropped in level of exit or decreased in volume or just vanished entirely: Hot Springs, De Angulo and Boronda for example. If the underground sources are not replenished, springs eventually deliver less water, whether it's the Alps or Santa Lucia - to assert otherwise is just absurd. They can also be affected by new users taking more water from springs that have related fundamental sources or shifts in terrain, for example from earthquakes. The mountains of Big Sur are not isolated from the rest of the world.