Just two months ago all our astute forecasters said there was a very high probability we would be having a weak La Nina this winter. Today, La Nina is nowhere to be found and now they are saying it is probably not coming at all this winter. We are stuck in an ENSO NEUTRAL state. How did they get this so wrong? It is bad news and it explains why we have not had much rain yet this December. I was quite excited for a weak La Nina which meant we would have a very good chance for another above average winter (same as in 2023). But now? Technically we are still around average thanks to that Bomb Cyclone in November but how will the rest of the winter fare? I guess we will just keep praying.
I did not have much time for hiking this past weekend so I just took Journey on an easy/moderate hike back to American Canyon Creek Falls. It is my go to early season local waterfall. Journey went to this one last year and I knew she would not be able to get down all the way to the bottom of it. I imagined I could just have her wait up top again while I went down to take a couple quick photos. She is usually very good and patient when I take photos. However, I did not do this. The creek was flowing pretty quick but worse than that all the rock was very wet and slick on both sides. It would have been extremely difficult for me to attempt to cross the creek at the waterfall. I decided to skip it and instead try to get down to the lower falls.
The problem: I was wearing shorts and did not have long pants. This was very stupid. There is a lot of poison oak at the lower falls. I did *not* want to be in the poison oak. What to do, what to do? Well, there was not any oak at the top so I went down with Journey as far as possible. At the bottom there was indeed a lot of it so I figured I would just take a photo from the hill side while Journey waited for me patiently. I am going to have to come back here again soon for a better photo (and with long pants). I’m not sure I will take Journey though. It’s probably not a good thing for her to be in a lot of poison oak. Ah, we’ll see. We hiked back up the trail. I love how Journey runs up the trail ahead of me and then stops and waits for me to catch up. She is so good and smart. We arrived back to the car at sunset. It was a lovely little hike in Auburn State Recreation Area.
