High Sierra Topix

For those of you who don't check the Mineral King web cam, the Timber Gap camera was aimed North, across the Park Service corral and up to the skyline.

CURRENT STATUS (8/13/23)

New Farewell Gap images are received erraticly.

We have not be able to obtain an image of the NPS corral and Timber Gap for sometime. A repair trip to the camera site discovered that the camera is operating properly, however, local Marmots had eaten through the camera's data and power cables and they will have to be replaced in the future. The lower image to the left is a result of a test verifying the camera's proper operation. While you can't see it, the corral is full of mules and a horse.

The usual summer scene (picture is 17 years old).
-m

A marmot is related to a gopher. In the Midwest, it is gophers that create problems with underground cables. So, telephone companies specify "gopher-proof" cable to be purchased for many buried cable projects. Then the cable manufacturer adds a special chemical to the insulation at the cable factory. That chemical is supposed to make the insulation taste bad to any rodent.

One time the cable factory fouled up the chemicals, and what they added to the insulation made it _attractive_ to the pesky gophers. The gophers were busy eating the insulation before the cable had been in the ground for a few hours, and many miles of expensive cable had to be replaced.

The moral to NPS. Be very careful what you use for buried cable.

Classic, Mineral King should be renamed Marmot Hell.

that's brilliant!