Volcanic springs in CA, Hat Creek source, aquatic plant nirvana

[Tom Barr]

Why say much?

There are a few places like this in CA, unlike TX, and FL, SEA and other regions where truly lush aquatic plants exist(Pupu springs in NZ is an exception), this is volcanic based geology for the source, not Krast(limestone).

The lush growth, really wide diversity, density of plants, clarity of the water, rich CO2 content, intense fast flow........

Really something to behold.

The water is about 38F or slightly less, bone chilling. I can handle cold water, this was near shock level since it's flowing really fast. Monkey flower growing permanently submersed, Crow's foot, several species of moss and about 4-5 species of other plants I've got no clue as to what they are.

Blew me away, just right by the road.
Faster than heck water, something you'd love to fish for trout in maybe.

Similar to the headwaters of Burney Mc Arthur Falls but even nicer and more accessible.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tom Barr]

This was on my way north to see some water falls and a dinky shallow lake:

Deepest in the USA(what's the deepest in North America?)

And Watson falls:

Never quite know what you will find.

It was a little bit of an adventure.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[SuperColey1]

You live a cool life Tom. Wish I could get out and about to see things like this

AC

 

[dutchy]

Wow, lots of nice places to go there. Here it's just flat country and cold most of the year. I have to drive a day to get somewhere nice.

regards,
dutchy

 

[hbosman]

Wow, lots of nice places to go there. Here it's just flat country and cold most of the year. I have to drive a day to get somewhere nice.

regards,
dutchy

Yeah but on the other hand, you can drive to places like Spain and Portugal. I'd like to see Holland again, haven't been there since 1986. You have buildings older than this country.

 

[Whiskey]

Amazing!!!

Where is that in CA Tom? I travel by car quite a bit, and that would definitively be worth a detour!

Whiskey

 

[Tom Barr]

It is in the boondocks for sure. North East CA is the least populated, even the south desert has more people.
It's between Lassen National park and Burney Mc Authur Falls, and goes through a lot of Volcanic table lands from about 800,000 to maybe 100,000 years ago.
The water fall is where a large flow simply stopped, then water flows over it(but that's in OR off the Umqua river).

It's about 3 hours from Sacramento(Lassen National Park) then another 50 or so miles north on 89.

Really impressive spring filled with very clean dense vibrant plants.
Monkey flower often grows near water, but this area of CA is the only place I've seen where it is 100% growing under water year round.

It also gets red color also.

Got lost on logging trails in Modoc, I do not recommend it for anyone. Met some loggers, they drove up and let me out of a gate, it really was like a mouse in a maze.
Even got me my first ticket in 25 years by .........get a load of this.....a CA Game Warden. 2nd one I've ever seen and I get out in the boonies quite often. Well, I suppoose I was due, claimed I passed on a double yellow, it was double as I got in front of the semi truck, but was not for most of the passing. Oh well. My lucky record has been broken.

Had huckleberry home made pie, so that made up for it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[aquabillpers]

When I was just getting started with my outdoor adventures, my mentor told me never to trust logging roads. "They are guaranteed to get you lost", he said."

A few years ago I was fishing in NY on the Tug Hill Plateau north of Redifeld. I parked my car and started what I thought would be a 10 minute walk to the stream. The land had been cut over and was essentially level, but with marshes and piles of scrap wood at random places. Fortunately, the loggers had made rough roads around those obstacles, and I followed them in the general direction of the stream, sometimes slogging through a few marshes and over some wood piles between roads. I was sure that I was getting closer to the stream.

Hah! About 8 hours later I was driven back to my car by a local angel in a pickup with cold beer and home made deer jerky. He took pity on me when he found me wandering in the dark on a county road with ripped pants and carrying waders and fishing equipment, and being harassed by the semi-wolves that some people there kept as watch dogs.

It also turned out that I had been trespassing on the land that his hunting club leased, too. He laughed. As I said, an angel.

"Never trust logging roads"!

Bill

 

[Tom Barr]

Deer jerky? Ick...Elk jerky? Yum. Bow hunt elk sometime. Spoke to a guy at a bar the last night we were up that way doing that, now that is "real" hunting.

Interesting group of characters are often met.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[aquabillpers]

Deer jerky? Ick...Elk jerky? Yum. Bow hunt elk sometime. Spoke to a guy at a bar the last night we were up that way doing that, now that is "real" hunting.

Interesting group of characters are often met.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Bow hunt elk? I have a friend who by the age of 40 had shot enough North American big game animals to want to try something different. He thought hunting deer with a spear would be challenging. But when he asked the PA Game Commission if that would be legal, they said it would not be.

Undeterred, the last I heard he was thinking about jumping onto a deer as it passed below his tree stand, and stabbing it with a knife.

There are many ways . . .

Bill

 

[Tom Barr]

Dinner is dinner the way I look at it.
If I have choice, now that's another matter.
Here's some more pics of plants, this is also on 89 north of Tahoe maybe 10 miles:

This is not a spring, rather, a normal alpine stream.
Weird algae in here:

Giant pondweed from Lake Manzanita:

More crow's foot growing nicely below Mt Lassen:

Aquatic plants in alpine regions or volcanic table lands?
Quite common here in CA, it is where there is the highest diversity actually.
Let so in the delta and warmer regions.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[dbazuin]

I have socks older as your country

But I find this pictures stunning.

 

[Tom Barr]

I have socks older as your country

But find this pictures stunning.

But do they stick to the wall when you throw them?


Regards,
Tom Barr