July-August, 2024
Another gorgeous morning!
The photo below was taken a few days ago, but the view and the sky looked the same this morning too. I walked from my trailer just a few feet to take the photo below. I’m looking across the lower reservoir. You might notice that, in the right side of the photo below, WAY in the distance across the water, there’s a low bit of land … the nearest dark hill on the right goes down to it. And the bright hill in the center, the hill with all that sunshine on it, goes down to the other end of it.
Here’s a close-up below. It’s the earth dam that holds the water in the lower reservoir, the reservoir below the town of Conconully. The water level in that reservoir is safely lower than the town of Conconully. The water is just a very few feet below the level of the campground.
On the right hand side of the earth dam in the photo above is where the sluice/conduit is that controls how much water is held in this reservoir vs. how much water is released downstream.
The photos might be deceiving. That earth dam is about 1.5 miles from my campsite in the campground, 1.5 MILES from where I was standing when I took the photos above. It sure looked interesting. I wanted to see that earth dam up close!
So this morning I jumped in the big white truck and went searching. I drove a mile or so south of Conconully, then turned off onto a dirt road that seemed like it might lead to that earth dam, though there were no signs … no signs either saying where the road went, or saying not to go there. So … I went! 🙂
No scary stuff happened today. There was plenty of room to pull over if another vehicle came from the other direction.
I drove up over this hill (below), and around the curve.
And there it was! The southern part of the reservoir, and the earth dam. The dam is in the center of the photo below.
I drove closer. These dams are called “earth dams”, but they are actually built with tons, thousands of tons, of huge rocks.
I got so close! But just before I got right out to the earth dam, I was stopped by this gate. I couldn’t get out onto the dam. There was room on the right side of the gate to walk through, but the signs said not to do that, so I didn’t.
But oh my gosh what a view from here across the lake/reservoir. Below, I’m looking across the southern part of the reservoir. You can just see the earth dam on the left side of the photo.
I turned to the right and looked back up the length of the reservoir to the north (photo below). Take a moment and look for the RED arrow in the photo below … it’s pointing right at Towhee the Trailer in the campground. 🙂 How cool is that? 1.5 miles away. Distances over flat water can be so deceiving.
I walked around the area near that gate for awhile, but then decided to drive back to the main paved road. Below, just before I reached that main paved road, I noticed a home in the distance. (You can always click on photos to open them and enlarge them.)
And then after getting back on the paved, main road, I noticed this home below.
And then this one below, WAY up in the hills. And no, the home below is not a shed, it’s a relatively large home, very isolated.
I then drove down the main road, slowly, to see what I could see. I’d seen the sign below on my drives up and down this road this week, but today I stopped.
The sign was a little confusing to me, so I read it a second time. I loved the history. And I liked the geology, what I could understand of it.
The Google image below is looking down from above, looking straight down at Scotch Creek Basin. North is up, south is down, etc. For the photos coming along below, I’m standing by the side of the road where the RED arrow is. The pale blue/grey line in the lower left of the photo below is Scotch Creek, the water that feeds the basin. The water then flows south, then east. But the trail, and the water along it, flows from the north, from Canada, along the trail taken by thousands of people in native tribes as they traveled north, or south, depending on the season. The PINK arrow at the top shows the northern exit from this basin. The trail led through the Scotch Creek Basin then down towards the “S” in the photo below, and then off to the right and then further down hill.
The YELLOW arrow in the photo above points directly at the point described in the sign above … earth movements that brought limestone on the east in contact with metamorphic rocks on the west.
The YELLOW arrow in the photo below shows where this confluence is. It was about two miles from where I was standing.
Here’s a zoom-in closeup below. On the left is a rock “outcrop” that looks to me like a lion’s head, with a smile on its face. There’s a very narrow valley just to the right of the lion’s head, then the eastern limestone wall climbs up to a steep rock wall above. The top of that lion’s head is about 120 feet above the valley. This was the major break between the two types of rocks.
I found that fascinating. If you’d like more information, a good website is HERE. And there’s a video HERE that shows Scotch Creek and another creek flowing together … the video isn’t about this specific basin, but about the environment here. Because of so much deforestation, they are now “planting” dead trees in the streams to enhance the environment and help new trees and other plants start and grow. The dead trees become food in the water and in the earth.
I had driven past the Scotch Creek Basin sign a number of times while I was here. I’m learning to stop! And find out why signs are posted. It’s usually fascinating. And I always learn stuff.
Ah, but then, I jumped back in the big white truck and headed back up the road towards Conconully and my campsite.
And yet, this row of hay bales made me pull over and take a couple of photos. The rounds of hay were huge … about four feet thick and four feet in diameter. They EACH weigh about 1,000 pounds, one-half ton.
Up the road a bit, I passed this field (below) where the hay had been harvested and baled … but the bales had not yet been collected. You can see the dirt road that led into the field. I did not drive in there, but I did park and then I did walk in there.
I love the smell of new, fresh hay. And I like knowing that so many animals will be fed by it.
There was so much to see within just a mile of Conconully. I’m sometimes tempted to travel out many miles to see things when there are so many extraordinary things to see close at hand to my campsite. Ah, it’s a good reminder to simply take a nice, slow walk around my campsite and the campground (and my neighborhood at home) and enjoy it. I hope you do too. 🙂 As they say, slow down, stop and smell the roses.
I wish there were movies or at least photos of how that earth dam was built. What a job that would be! You need to get certified as a news media person so you can get into places like out on the dam. 🙂
I wish so too, Paul. I looked online and could find nothing about the “build” of either of the two Conconully earth dams. But I did find this movie …
It’s old, but it shows a bit about the design of earth dams, and it shows how earth dams are dug and built. The video is 24 minutes long, with lots of ads sprinkled in.
Oh! I never thought about becoming a licensed news media person so I would have access to more things. I’ll check it out! 🙂
I always appreciate your inclusion of native people, of all people. And I love all the photos and descriptions, your humor, your honesty. And yes, the smell of new mown hay is so sweet! 🙂
Thank you, Sesapa. I like it when I’m included too, so why not include all people? Just my thought. 🙂
Just realized that I’ve never smelled new mown hay! When do I do that? Where do I do that? I need to know! Ha!! 🙂
Judy, check with your local (or county or state) agricultural agency about where and when hay is grown and mown and baled in your area. They should be able to tell you where to go and when to go there. I hope you get to smell it, it’s lovely. 🙂
I liked seeing the homes up on the side hills. Lots of the same sorts of homes out in the prairies here in New Mexico, really isolated homes.
Two of the homes in these photos had power lines leading to them, but one did not (unless it’s underground). In the winter hereabouts, the people there would need heavy-duty 4×4 transportation in and out. But oh my the peace and quiet of those homes. That seemed attractive to me.
I would never see this except for this blog! Thank you. I love the history, the geology, the homes in the distance, the earth dam, the hay, the native people info, the sky, the hills, the reservoir, everything.
🙂 Thanks Ben. I sure liked being here and learning about all of this. And I’m very much happy to share.
Where does the hay go? Does it stay locally or get shipped out? The lake/reservoir is so beautiful, so peaceful. That campground must be full all year round, yes? Is there fishing in the lake/reservoir?
There are enough animal farms in this area (cows, horses, bison, etc) that I suspect most of the hay raised here stays here, though some might be sold to farms a bit further down the road. The HUGE hay fields in the middle portion of Washington State do sometimes sell hay (of all sorts) to farmers outside of Washington. But again, most is kept within the area where it’s grown. A few years ago, there were so many horrible wildfires in states east of Washington, where thousands of acres of hay were burned, that farmers in Washington simply shipped/trucked hay to farmers in those states … at no cost, just to keep the animals in those states alive.
Ah, no, the campground is pretty much empty in the winter, heavy snow here. And yes indeed there is lots of fishing in both reservoirs. There are 2 or 3 fishing resorts on the lower reservoir where one can rent boats and tackle … good fishing here!
You find the best stuff. And I adore that new header photo!
Isn’t that fellow in the header photo just fascinating to watch? 🙂
I bet those homes have amazing night skies! And I love bales of hay in images too. Saw some today but I didn’t stop. Such pretty country where you were.
Oh, I forget about night skies, Dawn, but you sure would think of that! You are the night sky wonder woman! 🙂
When I was a boy, me and a lot of boys lifted rectangular bales of hay up onto the hay wagon, a flat-bed wagon towed behind a tractor in the field. We did that for hours, all day, in fields here in Montana. Those bales had to weigh 70 pounds. We either got really super fit or a few of the boys got hurt and quit. But those round bales, holy smokes, only a machine can lift those. At first I loved the smell of that hay, but I lived with it so much that after a short while I didn’t even notice it. These days, I love that smell again. Funny how life comes around. Nice photos. Lots of remote homes here in Montana too. Wife and I have always lived in small towns, really small towns, that’s as remote as we’d like to get, but we’ve sure loved it.
I grew up around very small farms with hay, and indeed many of the boys in school got jobs on farms in the summer months. Lifting hay bales up over your head, for hours on end, was HARD work!! I’ve wondered what high school boys do these days during summer months, since those jobs don’t exist any more. I’ve lived in small towns, and I’ve lived in BIG cities … I like the small towns too, Tim.
That fourth photo scared me a bit … up and then, what, around another HAIR-PIN curve?! Ahhhh, but no, all was ok. I hope that scare from that other day never happens to you again (or to us). Today’s blog post is wonderful. The lake is beautiful, and I liked the earth dam (wish you could have got out there and chatted with someone who knew about it) .. and Scotch Creek Basin. My dad was a geologist so he taught us a lot about the earth and how it’s formed, and how we humans trans-form it. Loved your Scotch Creek photos and links. I don’t know much about crops and such tho, living in a city most of my life. Those hay rounds are fascinating, I’ve seen photos from a distance but never up close and never with details like you share. I’m close to retiring … my plan is to get OUT of this city and learn about the world around me. You are inspiring. 🙂 Thank you.
Ha! Sorry to scare you Ruth. 🙂 Nope, no problem today, though I will remember that other drive for a long time, I suspect. Oh, please do get out of your city and go explore … even just to go for a drive out into the country, take a friend or two with you, get lost, then stop and ask the locals for directions on how to get back home. You’ll meet the nicest people and see the real world.
Those dry hills are so totally unlike any landscape I’m used to, though I recall passing through similar areas on the Canadian side.
FG, those dry hills aren’t what I’m used to either. Western Washington (west of the Cascade Mountains) is so green and lush, that’s what I’m used to, like you are where you live. But I loved seeing this different landscape. It’s beautiful too. Ah, I’m not surprised this dry land continues up into Canada. Land and water and air don’t seem to care about those dotted lines that we humans seem to need to have.