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Mt. Charleston
A visit to an avalanche that happened in the
early part of the year and a hike up Fletcher Canyon on 5.07.05. This year
in particular has been a year of massive amounts of moisture. The rain
we've received in the valley is snow in the upper regions. In keeping with
the fact that we've received so much rain, everything in the desert is in bloom.
This hike was done with Dan Burch, Chad Patterson, Jed Lewison, Wayne Murphy,
and me...Linda Geenen.
I haven't had a snowball thrown at me in years...guess who? We believe the avalanche started somehwere in here. We are on approximately 40 feet of packed snow...mixed with broken trees, rock, dirt, and pine needles. The scraped bark on this tree is about 30 feet off the snow. The impact of the avalanche was much higher than it is now. Notice Wayne is leaning with the young Aspens in the background. They are supple enough that they bent with the avalanche when it went over them. In a few years, they will break off instead of bending. A dry camp area, a short distance from the avalanche. Mankind has to leave its mark on everything. These trees sit in clumps around the campground, and each clump looks like a rite of passage with carvings. Fletcher Canyon. We are traveling always uphill beside a small, treacherous stream of snowmelt. While it may look quite tame, we crossed it two to three times going up and coming down. It kept us on our toes. The intrigue of nature. Wayne took this picture. We stopped at this point. Another time, another trip, we will make it into Fletcher Canyon when the snow has melted.
I haven't had a snowball thrown at me in years...guess who?
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