We went to this place called Crystal Lake in the Angeles National Forest. It's 22 miles into the San Gabriel Mountains, up highway 39.
A wildfire burned much of the forest a few years ago. Recently, they've begun to open some areas again. You see remnants of burnt trees, ashen logs, bare and dry landscape.
The mountain is recovering, slowly.
Crystal Lake, CA
8-22-13
3:15 PM
A and I just returned from trying to split a stump in half. We were scavenging wood while M and C slept in the tent.
We
spent forty-five minutes in the sun trying to split a stump. We were
smashing small rocks into cracks in the wood. We already did it with a
smaller, more brittle stump. This one was a bigger, thicker piece of
solid wood. We tried everything to split it open. There was a piece of
rebar lying around some broken parking blocks. Even the steel bent when
we tried prying the wood with it. We tried throwing it against big sharp
rocks. It took the both of us to pick it up and throw it. It still
wouldn't crack.
There was a dry riverbed nearby. We
tossed the stump in there and it fell six feet onto jagged rock. Still
not any significant damage.
Finally, we were exhausted and didn't know what else to do, so we threw rocks at it, and kicked it. . .
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| Crystal Lake. |
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| Alongside. |
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| He skipped stones for the first time. |
The amphitheater had road access. We cut through the empty parking lot and followed the road back to highway 39. As we were walking, we saw these:
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| New saplings. Grow big and strong, you guys! |
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| "After fire and years of drought, Crystal Lake re-earns its name." |
The End!
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| This is me. |
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That's you!!! You have a cute smile. :)
ReplyDeleteI really like that picture from up high, and also the one of your friends sitting on the bench.
Seems like it was a fun time, even though everything looks kind of dead. Wildfires must suck.
Aww, thanks. :)
DeleteIt took me a while to sort through all the pictures. I'm no photo-taking-ographer person, neither. But thanks.
It was really fun. There's lots of damage, but there's also lots of healthy green. Half and half, I guess.
22 miles in the mountains would be a good name for a steven king-esque novel, hope your trip was memorable!
ReplyDelete