On the Road……Meadow Club, Fairfax
Show on mapI live in a region with a drought prone mediterranean climate and so expressing one’s feelings about the rain (its frequency and abundance) is a local past-time and, I think, a reflection of becoming a true inhabitant of this dynamic ecological assemblage.
I love the rain — especially late season March/April rains, but it also reduces my riding (above is a fair weather picture from a mid-month ride).
And despite many rumors to the contrary, rainfall this year is just “average”. But “average” = “great” because now our reservoirs are finally full.
Stats from MMWD’s website:
Average year-to-date rainfall (inches): 46.3
Actual year-to-date rainfall (inches): 45.1
Current, reservoir storage (% of capacity): 99
Same time last year, reservoir storage (% of capacity): 84
Now we need to hope plans to restore native Coho salmon populations will soon start paying off.
Love this time of year in the north bay (recent Maryland transplant from Sonoma) espeically for cycling west marin/tomales/bodega area. Refreshing to hear something about CA coho, ironically Lagunitas creek has one of the best runs in the state and often has populations near capacity (which to be fair in a small stream like Lagunitas is small). I would like to see more done with Chinook though, as until the recent collapse was extremely healthy. Marin is about the southernmost extent of the Coho range but Chinook and Steelhead used to have runs all the way south down to LA. Sorry for this digression, not really a subject i get to hear about much in Baltimore :). I enjoy your blog a lot, its always nice to see beautiful pictures of familiar country.
Perry
31 Mar 10 at 9:29 am
perry/ you know your pacific salmon! i’ll have to look into the chinook situation and learn more. i once snorkeled a river way up north (trinity county i think it was) and found myself in a big, deep holding pool of more than a dozen ocean sized fall-run chinook circling around me…anyhow, thanks so much for your comment!
fridaycyclotouriste
1 Apr 10 at 12:29 am
That’s beautiful (the bike and the hiils). I would love to ride somewhere surrounded by scenery like that. You are a lucky man.
Myles/ rattrappress
1 Apr 10 at 7:41 pm