chaos and carnage on the East Fork Carson

[mokelumnekid]

A couple of weeks ago I was in Calif. to do some kayaking and ended up one day running the East Fork Carson from above Hangman's Bridge (above Markleeville on Hwy 89) to Hwy 395 south of Gardnerville, a good 23 or so mile run. FYI- the hot springs about half way down were too hot to get into, but the trip was beautiful (lots of highly altered volcanic rock) and the day pleasant. I recommend it as a raft trip for those that don't kayak, many people camp at the hot springs (which is about to be prohibited in the future by the USFS). The following weekend some off-roaders came to the same location as the hot springs, on the so-called Barney Riley 4WD trail and tried to cross the river at even higher water, something like 2000 cfs which is high indeed for this river. Note that at low water this crossing is pretty routine, but not this day- carnage. For some pics see:

http://tinyurl.com/5sydaen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note that there is a YouTube link in the text of that page that shows one of the trucks rolling down the river. And in the side bar of that YouTube page are more videos of the whole sorry episode- like a guy coming out in an inflatable kayak to get the driver off the truck and deliver a pfd, etc.

Anyway amusing and sad. BTW, I don't mean to turn this into a rant/discussion about off-road travel, PLEASE. Normally these folks are operating within the laws and I don't want to start a flame war about law abiding activity, despite some of my personal misgiving about the occasional irresponsible behavior of a minority of that community.

[Wandering Daisy]

I have always said that a 4wd truck is nothing more than a ticket to get stuck or in trouble. I think few people really have any idea of the power of flowing water. I hesitate to call them "stupid". We are all "stupid" in unfamiliar environments. I once was able to be eye witness to a flash flood. Even though I am a trained water resource engineer and geologist, seeing an entire hillside torn down to a 6 foot gully in 5 minutes was an eye opener!

[mokelumnekid]

Agreed- mass wasting after volcanic eruptions is especially amazing. I was part of various groups that mapped the geology of the area around Ebbetts and Sonora Pass BITD, tho this was my first trip all the way down the Carson drainage in one day. What I found striking was the size of the zone of hydrothermal alteration in the massive and volcaniclastic pile northeast of Silver and Highland Peaks, basically everything from Markleeville to almost 395 is highly altered. Although I guess given that is the intersection of the range front faults with an old volcanic complex it shouldn't be that surprising (with the Zaca, Morningstar and Leviathan mines as potential superfund sites!). And later that day driving to Reno, looking at the west facing slopes of the Virginia Range- and the area around where Mt. Rose Hwy intersects 395 also highly altered with hot springs. I'm rambling, but it did strike me as to the size and intensity of alteration along the front there.