I got a text from Yuki last evening. He said I should take a drive over to the Mokelumne River at the 49 bridge. He thought you guys would like to see the amount of water coming down from the Power House upstream.
Because I was already in sweats and slippers I decided to do it this morning instead. The first picture is from when Yuki and fished up by the Power House last November. Beautiful fishing water.
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November 3, 2016 |
I decided that the best way to approach the river would be the Day Use area under the 49 bridge. Unfortunately they closed it because of high water. So I did the only thing logical, I parked the truck and walked through the barriers down to the river.
I apologize for the "not so good" pictures, but you can't get anywhere near the river. The water is all over the place.
As you can see in the picture below the river is almost, if not at flood stage.
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Under the 49 bridge. |
And, you can see the water is running over the Day Use Area road.
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The road |
This is upstream from where I was standing.
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Hard to see with all the trees. |
Then I decided to take a drive up Electra Road (which was also closed), but that didn't stop me. I just drove around the signs. Upstream from the 49 bridge.
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Getting the idea? |
Last night I mentioned to Yuki that I was going to try to sneak out and fish Middle Bar Bridge. He thought it might be underwater. Good point, so I thought I'd take a look.
Almost, but not quite.
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Middle Bar Bridge |
Just to give you a little perspective, the first photo is from March last year when we were fishing the bridge.
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Upstream 3/25/2016 |
Then today
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Upstream from the bridge |
Then downstream in March last year.
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Downstream 3/25/2016 |
And again today.
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Downstream today |
On the way back to Highway 49 along the 3 mile drive, I stopped (I was the only one on the road) to take a little waterfall shot.
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Normally dry |
Then, last but not least, I took a couple shots in town. First one is Jackson. This runs along Highway 88 all the way past Pine Grove (8 miles up the road) and meets another branch that runs behind the houses across the street to eventually runs into Lake Amador.
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Jackson Creek |
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Behind the houses across the street. |
With all that said, the next storm (this one is just like the last ones) is coming in tomorrow.
Remember that guy up the street with all the lumber? His boat is starting to look vaguely familiar.
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I think he knows something we don't. |
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Oh, and fishing Middle Bar Bridge, even if you put bait in the water, I doubt the fish could find it.
Stay tuned.
Yes siree, looks like the floods have came or are about too. Be safe! Things can get out of hand real quick when high water is involved........
ReplyDeleteHeck, there's now a lake covering the highway I (used to) take to the office. Wasn't planned, but we did buy a house on a hill of hard-packed clay with no hillside behind it; think we'll be safe if the rain continues and waters rise.
ReplyDeleteAwesome shots there. Looks like that rain deficit is shrinking.
ReplyDeleteBe careful folks.
Wow, that's a lot of water. I'm surprised that because of the drought that the ground wouldn't soak a lot of it up. Makes me wonder if Someone hates California?
ReplyDelete