Plaskett & Nacimiento Roads on Sunday, 1/31/21

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• Many thanks Kate, & all, in the sharing of these photo's, informing us of the damage to to our roads, etc. What comes to mind, is the much needed break that will come now, in slowing the tourism of the precious Big Sur coastline. ☮

• there's just nothing..nothing to hold the earth...just wow

• Wow...lotsa movement, and looking like much more to come. Glad everyone is safe; sorry for Ge's home loss. Take care of yourselves.

• Isn't Plaskett your road? So much slipping and sliding. Now Big Sur is isolated again

  • It is, but I am in contact with the FHL crew who grades it for the USFS.

• Plaskett's starting to get $eriou$. A lot can be done with mattock, shovel and youthful energy. A skilled backhoe operator may soon be required.

  • Number 1 son (only son) drove all the way to SLO yesterday to get a pick axe. I have one, but he was afraid he might break it, and then he would have to buy two!! LOL

• Indeed, & as always, Mother Nature has it's own way's, even if difficult for us, in answering the call, for much less tourism. 😇

• These photos are devastating signposts marking our ecological calamity. Fire and Flood (and Plague). Despite the silver lining of cutting the path off to tourists (Amen), to quote the Moody Blues: "It makes me want to cry . . . cry . . . cry."

• Reminds me of how upper Palo looked after the winter 2016/2017 rains. We are now 4 years out from upper Palo being badly damaged with no county plan to rebuild the road. Just a gate blocking the road.

• Indeed,,, we cry. I can share, that Cosmically, this time is a Paradigm Shift, & all about Waking-Us-Up, to what we really know is of most value, & importance in our lives. It is way past time, that All of the People begin working together, in surrendering the, Me, my Way, & my Gain mentality, which only limit's us, & stepping into what I call, the New Paradigm, & The We, & Our Collective Gain~~ Yes! 🌎

• Thanks for the great pix!

  I have done ecosystem restoration consulting for more than fifty years, I learned some crucial distinctions by observation and continuing to question conventional knowledge. I've written a few papers and articles. Anybody can do it, but one has to be willing to learn from one's mistakes.

  The last pic appears to be an old fill. Was it constructed according to soils engineering standards? Fill is unconsolidated material. It depends on friction between particles to resist gravity. Engineering standards are intended to be so tight as to increase friction and keep water out. Water cannot flow through or drain out of it as long as the structure remains tight enough (90% of maximum dry density). This situation is very much like the washout at Rat Creek on hwy 1.

  The previous pic illustrates how the concentration rather than dispersal of water can result in washouts and progressive gully formation. Apparently, a berm, intended to keep water flow on the roadbed, failed, possibly because the gradient wasn't steep enough to keep the rock and soil debris from settling out and effectively raising the surface. Normal chaotic flow or flow around obstructions also can cause a dirt berm to wash out, and the slope surface below normally cannot resist the resulting forces, which are compounded by large and small particle displacement.

  • Plaskett was not graded properly after the Dolan Fire which is the reason for so many of its fails. It was graded to the inside, not to the outside.