Third World Patterns in the Bay Area

As students of cultural geography know, in the Third World, property values in the cities tend to be highest, where the wealthy live, while shantytowns tend to surround the cities in the steeper terrain. In the First World, this pattern is often reversed, due to the wealthy fleeing the city centers and being able to afford the expensive engineering required to build in steeper terrain. Naturally these are generalizations, but it is always interesting to note when they don't apply.

San Francisco (left) and Mt. Tamalpais, the highest
point in hilly and forested Marin County.

In the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, the First World pattern tends to hold. Steep and hilly Marin County, a short walk across the Golden Gate Bridge north of the densest city in the state, is the richest county in the state and tends to have some of the highest property values.

As you move outward, property values tend to fall again, which is why commuters spend so much time in their cars and buy houses in hot, inland locations. Recent events in the housing market and higher fuel costs have tended to make house prices in these areas even lower.

Historic LA (back when it was legal to walk)

The header image for this blog shows a historic 1900 map of the area between downtown L.A. and Santa Monica. My dad grew up (drinking water from the Owens Valley) in the 1920s in the area toward downtown L.A. on Hobart Blvd., just east of Western Avenue.

2013 map (thanks to Google Maps) of the area in the 1900 map in the header.

 These maps are centered on the area seen in the photos below (found in the Facebook album Vintage Los Angeles).

Tiptoeing Up a Mountain Part 2

Two years ago I climbed Mt. Warren in my sandals and wrote about it here. Last year, the day after my LA Aqueduct Tour that I lead every summer, I climbed Tioga Peak in my sandals... from the south side. That is, the steep trail-less side above Ellery Lake, and not via the Gardisky Lake Trail on the northwest side.

The wildflower rock gardens on Tioga Peak are spectacular, even in a dry year.

The Rainmakers

The fog drip forest, 7/25/11

Cloudy-foggy morning.
Yellow Star Thistle ridge, steep uphill into the fog.
Poison Oak fall colors.

Ridgetop--patter of rain in the trees.
Madrone living off the Doug-fir condensation nuclei?
Does the smooth bark allow the drips to reach the forest floor?

Banana slugs.

Puddle in road--more light rain here.
(where the fog funnels over the ridge and taller trees stand)
0.01" per day would be 1/3 inch per month!
Do groves of trees create springs downhill?
What about the Hunter's Camp spring?

Taller trees = more sun (for that tree) and rain.
Climate change = by 2070 Point Reyes might have Santa Barbara's climate.
Less fog = less salmon?

(On July 1, 2012 we woke up to misting rain and fog drip from our eaves.)

The Bay leaves drift in to make bridges and dams at the riffles.

Is Tomales Point Moving Northwest Faster Than it is Being Eroded?

On my birthday, as I hiked to Tomales Point, I had one simple question. Is Tomales Point moving northwest faster than it is being eroded by the ocean?

The implications of this question are huge. If it is moving northwest faster than it is being eroded, it is actually moving northwest. If not, it is either stationary or moving southeast. Most of us know the Pacific Plate side of the San Andreas Fault is moving northwest. But the features riding on top of it may not be.

Wind

In the desert, the full force of wind gusts hit you, or your house, and it feels like a blow from a hard object. It carries dust, sand, gravel, and anything else not secured well enough such as lawn furniture and shingles. It is a huge part of your life--you can't ignore it, inside or out, and the morning after a windy night everyone is cranky because they spent the night listening to a hurricane instead of sleeping.

Since we moved, we don't miss the wind. Spring tends to be windy here--as it also is in the Eastern Sierra, where I lived for most of the last two decades. But the wind here is in the treetops. Wind in a forest is a completely different thing than wind in the desert. You worry about a tree falling on your house instead of your house falling down.

Thalweg Surveys

Nerd Terrarium warning: Some terminology and concepts may be considered nerdy.

My first thalweg survey was in a Forest and Range Hydrology class at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We were surveying San Luis Creek downstream of downtown San Luis Obispo. I remember we reached a big, deep pool, and as a taller person, I got to go into it with the survey rod because I could reach the deeper parts while still standing. I remember climbing onto a big log and reaching out into the pool to place the rod in what I thought was the deepest point.

And that is what a thalweg survey is. The thalweg is the deepest part of a channel. If you are in a boat and not wanting to run aground, you would typically follow the thalweg. If you were walking up or down a stream, unless you wanted to get really wet, you would typically avoid the thalweg. A survey of the thalweg is done in order to produce a profile view of the creek--from which you can see the slope and pools and riffles.

On Sunday I walked downstream. It was a hot day, but I wasn't prepared to go in too deeply or do too much climbing over debris because I was carrying my sleeping son in a carrier on my chest. Nevertheless, I got farther than the debris-jam and pool that stopped me last year. Peak flows during the winter cleared the jam and deposited sediment in the pool.