First timer? In this formerly once-a-day blog (then every-other-day blog and now a one-to-three-times a week blog), I have my computer select a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.” I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location. To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is and what the various numbers and abbreviations mean), please see “About Landing,” (and “Abbreviations” and “Cryptic Numbers”) above.
Dan – How about that?! I’m now 3/4 with this US landing in . . . CA; 89/104; 4/10; 155.9. Note that even with my 3/4, I’m still at 4/10. No where to go but up (unless, of course, I hit a string of OSers . . .)
Here’s my landing map showing that I landed near a reservoir, but near no towns. That’s the Mad River flowing into the reservoir from the south.
Here’s a broader view, showing my proximity to Zenia and the town of Mad River:
Here’s the broadest view:
Obviously, I landed in the watershed of the Mad River. This happens to be the first time I’ve ever landed in this watershed, making it my 1087th river watershed. The Mad flows into the P.O., at the town of McKinleyville. Here’s a picture of the Mad as it enters the Pacific Ocean:
Here’s my GE shot:
And an oblique GE shot, looking north:
Fortunately, GE had StreetView coverage for the road that runs right next to my landing. I just downloaded a new version of GE; it actually put my “landing” label on the StreetView shot. Note that the label is just in the direction of my landing, not my landing spot itself (which is about 200’ further up the hill). Here ’tis:
Here’s a Panaramio shot (by luv4drv944) of Ruth Reservoir from across the lake from my landing. My landing is up the valley you can see off to the left:
A couple of more shots of the lake, first this one plucked anomalously from the net:
And this one, from TrinityCam.com / Dwight Glass:
So, this about Zenia, from Wiki:
Zenia is an unincorporated community in Trinity County, California. Zenia has had a post office since 1899. Zenia was first named Poison Camp after larkspur in the area which poisoned their cattle. Postmaster George Croyden named the community Zenia after a girl. [Come on! What girl?]
So, larkspur is poisonous, eh? From Wiki:
All parts of the larkspur plant contain an alkaloid delphinine and are very poisonous, causing vomiting when eaten, and death in larger amounts. In small amounts, extracts of the plant have been used in herbal medicine.
Larkspur, especially tall larkspur, is a significant cause of cattle poisoning on rangelands in the western United States. Larkspur is more common in high-elevation areas, and many ranchers will delay moving cattle onto such ranges until late summer when the toxicity of the plants is reduced. Death is through cardiotoxic and neuromuscular blocking effects, and can occur within a few hours of ingestion.
And, of course, I must include a picture of larkspur:
From HumboldtSearch.com about the community of Mad River:
Mad River (an old gold-mining town) is located near the downstream end of Ruth Lake. The Mad River flows peacefully and tranquilly straight through the center of the town and makes one feel as if the town was built around the river. The opportunities for water-sports are everywhere with tubing and fishing being high on the list. Mad River is only a few short hours drive from San Francisco so this makes escaping back to the past as easy as jumping on the highway. Take a trip to see one of the real frontier outposts of the Gold Rush of the 1800’s.
While checking out Mad River, I stumbled across a cool motorcycle travel blog: “4 Guys Ride the 4 Corners.” These guys from Maryland left home in June 2010 and went to:
The first corner: Key West; and then on to
The second corner: south of San Diego; and then on to
The third corner: Blaine WA; and then on to
The fourth corner: Madawaska ME.
As a geography type of guy, I really appreciate what they did. Anyway, on their leg from San Diego to Blaine, It just so happens that they ended up in Mad River. Here’s their shot of the Welcome to Mad River sign:
They ate lunch here:
Notice that Mad River Towing puts their signs everywhere. Anyway, here’s what they had to say about lunch:
. . . yet the town was packed with people. All kinds of people stopped here for lunch. The town was so small, Ron said, “you could throw a good size tarp over the entire thing and cover it.”
Click here to check out their blog.
I’ll close with this picture of the Mad River (from Red Horse Graphics, redhorseinc.com):
That’ll do it. . .
KS
Greg
© 2011 A Landing A Day