Monday, February 7, 2011

don't lose yer underpants!

2/5 Salmon Creek Falls

Jeepers, I haven't bee keeping up with the posts. Looking for work has kept me away from the keyboard but not away from the hikes. This weekend we made a visit to Salmon Creek Falls at the southern end of Big Sur. It's a pretty place but a very popular stop for a short hike on the Highway One drive. The quantity of traffic has taken its toll since the last time any of us visited. The drawing above was spotted on a guard rail post at the turnout for the trail head. It made us laugh but it sums up how I felt about all litter and tree carving graffiti. I like graffiti with a sense of humor and creativity placed on man made objects like this cartoon, but the tree carving makes me all frowny.
Here I am with hat hair, blood shot eyes, and some sour feelings about all the trash. I hauled out pounds of plastic water bottles, cigarette packages, cans, broken glass, broken sun glasses, and juice bags. C'mon folks, we don't have to be this lame. Take your crap with you or don't bring it in the first place. The falls clearly have become a favorite place to get busy too. There were torn condom packages and, yes, a grubby weenie wrapper from some one's tryst... classy. Do use a condom, but don't leave the nasty thing behind when you drive away. The lost item that took the cake was a lacy blue dainty hung on a fence post along the trail. My nephew gleefully took the opportunity to holler, "Who's panties are those? Who lost their panties?!" happy to have the chance to yell a word that makes him giggle. I still call 'em underpants regardless of how little they cover.

Even with the detritus of too many jerks, the falls and the creek are really pretty and worth visiting. A week day will have less traffic if you have one free. We spotted this Iris growing in the brambles along the trail.
Beware of the many tracks that have been worn into the canyon leading up toward the head of the falls. They are not maintained trails and they lead every which way into heaps of Poison Oak and crumbling slopes of wet leaves and scree. The walk to the falls from the turn out is quite short but there are many muddy slippery parts, not the easiest for those who are not sure of foot. The turn out and trail head is 3.7 miles north of Ragged Point on the Pacific Coast Highway.
If you go, please don't leave anything behind, and if you have a little gumption, take a garbage bag with you and help me haul out some of the junk that all the knuckleheads have dropped.

1 comment:

  1. oh yeeeesh.
    i remember finding condoms and tampons along my favorite trail in Rhode Island back in the early 80s... love-leeeee...

    ReplyDelete

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