[Moe Ped]

This just in from the event leader:

Not sure how many are still on your computers – but, we have to cancel the event. The road is getting impassable with 4 wheel vehicles and is not absorbing the water.

As soon as we can, we’ll get coepark.org updated and there will be a message on the phone at HQ. Cameron will be at Bell’s Station this afternoon.

Diana


This sucks...

 

[Fast Eddy]

It's got to be hard for anyone who drove there from out-of-town based on the update last night. Bummer...

I'm going to go up and work in the VC tomorrow am for a while and pick up some gear for the Pacheco Outing.

 

[Moe Ped]

Per radar; the eastern "gateway" into Coe for the BCW got upwards of 1" rain so far:

This combined with the recently-graded roads being rather dusty made for a slippery mess I'm sure.

 

[Restricted]

I saw yesterday's 5pm update and still didn't think it would happen. Didn't even bother to pull out the camp gear

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[Fast Eddy]

Not sure where you got that. Current map says about 0.3" since yesterday at 5pm. As I recall, it wasn't raining last night when I got home at 7:45pm.

 

[locoyokel]

Fast Eddy, you're using the wrong radar, use the SF one (down and left arrow in that box on the upper left of the NWS page you got your screenshot from), it currently shows 0.7-1.6" of rainfall for all of Coe for the past 24hrs (who knows how accurate the radar is, Coe HQ gauge says 0.51"). Those radar totals get really inaccurate near the edges...

 

[Moe Ped]

Not sure where you got that. Current map says about 0.3" since yesterday at 5pm. As I recall, it wasn't raining last night when I got home at 7:45pm.

You're looking at the Sacramento radar; mine is from Mt. Umunhum (a good bit closer to Coe) Anyway, those are what the radar thinks may have fallen; YMMV.

Here's the actual current gauge totals:

Cordoza Ridge received 0.51", 0.42" at Pacheco Camp and 0.63" at Canada de Oso (new gauge). As the radar showed heavier rain to the east I can believe that Dowdy could have gotten 1" higher elevation and all.

 

[knobs]

From what I saw of the fireroads on saturday "Not passable" seems over the top. Maybe Friday looked bad but there was less water in the creeks this Saturday than 2 weeks ago.

BTW, Absolutely beautiful out there.

 

[Moe Ped]

Timing is everything...

From what I saw of the fireroads on saturday "Not passable" seems over the top. Maybe Friday looked bad but there was less water in the creeks this Saturday than 2 weeks ago.

BTW, Absolutely beautiful out there.

Several volunteers began their weekend on Thursday; the ones that stayed put enjoyed the rains and it was business @ Coe as usual other than the event being canceled. Upon learning of the cancelation on Friday some left; here's one report:

"...the drive out Friday around noon was something of a nightmare. It was particularly treacherous over the high point above the Dowdy entrance and remained treacherous on every down-slope thereafter. The final descent to Bell Station was done at an extremely even 5 mph past evidence that previous vehicles had had some very interesting moments. It would have been a horrendous mistake to let the public in--especially those without 4WD!"

The main problem was that KAR was just graded and very loose.

A volunteer who drove out Saturday reported:

"Saturday morning early looked great: clear, quiet, sunny. Clouds
came and the wind picked up, though it was sunny now and then. I left
camp a bit after noon. The road under my car was dry, and the rest of
the surface was drying.

I have a photo of my car parked along KAR, freshly washed! Never
happened before.

The drive out had no traction problems at all. On the level, there
were some puddles. Steep roads drain well! "

The weekend wasn't a total loss, some volunteers are still out there enjoying every minute of being able to "go deep" by vehicle.

 

[karld]

I visited Pacheco Falls yesterday and confirmed that all the new rain soaked directly into the earth, except that which fell on Kaiser-Aetna Road! The falls were not impressive. (Maybe someone here, like Pliebenberg, can shed some light on the recent Live Oak Spring design. I DO NOT like it and don't understand it.) Pacheco Falls, Willson Camp / Peak / Tower at Henry Coe State Park | AlphaRoaming

 

[Moe Ped]

I visited Pacheco Falls yesterday and confirmed that all the new rain soaked directly into the earth, except that which fell on Kaiser-Aetna Road! The falls were not impressive. (Maybe someone here, like Pliebenberg, can shed some light on the recent Live Oak Spring design. I DO NOT like it and don't understand it.) Pacheco Falls, Willson Camp / Peak / Tower at Henry Coe State Park | AlphaRoaming

Understand this, the reason for the cover is that the float rod was damaged (vandalized?) twice in the past year, once bent back on itself and the second time snapped off completely. When the float valve is unable to shut off all the water from the spring goes into the horse trough (and then wasted by overflowing and running down the hill) and none of it goes down Pacheco Camp.

Maintaining a water source at Pacheco Camp is a priority hence the "hardening" (yep did it myself) of the plumbing at LOS:

The LOS/PC water system is a bit Rube Goldberg-y but given its remote location there's a reason for most of its peculiarities. For example, from the LOS spring collection boxes all the way to the storage tank at PC an attempt at a steady downgrade in the pipe was made. This is for freeze protection; as long as the water is flowing in the few exposed areas it won't ice-up and break the pipe. Also why the short section of pipe at the horse trough float valve is angled the way it is; there's just enough mixing of the flow at the "tee" to keep the valve from freezing. (The new cover will help in this regard also)

There's been some thought to putting a storage tank at LOS; then such niceties as a regular faucet could be realized. Got a couple of grand to donate? We could maybe put a plaque on the tank with your name on it!

 

[Fast Eddy]

What's not to like about that?

 

[karld]

Paul, Thanks for the detailed explanation. The *only* reason I could think of was because of vandalism, but waayyy out there surprises me. Who would be that much of an idiot, or not appreciate the spring, for both humans and animals? odd...

Your design is quite good, for your intended purpose...I studied it and tugged at it, while muttering various phrases. It should survive a minor prison riot now! (I didn't know that the LOS was linked to Pacheco Camp. That's a long stretch of PVC!)

You're one of the "heroes" of Coe for the work you do. I also appreciate that you're the only person in the PRA that is accessible for occasional Q&A, but that's another subject... Thanks again!

I updated my blog post, by adding the following. I'd be happy to include your name, if you'd like: "The Coe volunteer that designed and built this protected fill system tells me that there's been vandalism(?!?) here twice. The float valve system was seriously damaged. This spring feeds into the more important water system at Pacheco Camp, which was also impacted."

(Fast Eddy: my original post was about having to filter from the "biologically active" trough instead of a dripping fill tube, like I'm used to seeing everywhere else)

 

[Skyline35]

What's not to like about that?

The water in the Live Oak Spring trough is stagnant. Maybe there is a modification or adjustment which can address that?

///Charlie

 

[Moe Ped]

The water in the Live Oak Spring trough is stagnant. Maybe there is a modification or adjustment which can address that?

///Charlie

The proper fix would be:

There's been some thought to putting a storage tank at LOS; then such niceties as a regular faucet could be realized. Got a couple of grand to donate? We could maybe put a plaque on the tank with your name on it!

Short term; if I get out there I'll see if there's a drain and clean the trough out. If no drain I'll bail it down and perhaps leave a bailing bucket for others to follow suit. Reason it's stagnant is that it's just not getting enough use to keep the water fresh. Plenty of water high up in the hills still, no reason for deer and etc to even be using the trough as of yet.

Stagnation is a common problem with many of Coe's troughs using a float valve rather than the overflow design. (Springs with storage tanks need a float valve at the trough if there's an adjacent faucet) The trough's using the flow-through (overflow) design are "fresh" although usually quite biologically active:

Upper Grapevine Spring

BTW; a controlled overflow with a float valve would be a modification that would keep the water "fresher", its been tried but the orifice for the "controlled overflow" (a better term might be "controlled leak") is prone to getting plugged and need weekly monitoring.

 

[karld]

Would a faucet (hose bib) be a reasonable addition to one of the PVC lines? (Vandal-proof?).

(The simple overflow designs do accumulate algae, but the water itself is usually clear, and I don't mind filtering directly from the trough. LOS was very murky, with an oily sheen on top.)

 

[Skyline35]

The proper fix would be:

There's been some thought to putting a storage tank at LOS; then such niceties as a regular faucet could be realized. Got a couple of grand to donate? We could maybe put a plaque on the tank with your name on it!

Short term; if I get out there I'll see if there's a drain and clean the trough out. If no drain I'll bail it down and perhaps leave a bailing bucket for others to follow suit. Reason it's stagnant is that it's just not getting enough use to keep the water fresh. Plenty of water high up in the hills still, no reason for deer and etc to even be using the trough as of yet.

Stagnation is a common problem with many of Coe's troughs using a float valve rather than the overflow design. (Springs with storage tanks need a float valve at the trough if there's an adjacent faucet) The trough's using the flow-through (overflow) design are "fresh" although usually quite biologically active:

Upper Grapevine Spring

BTW; a controlled overflow with a float valve would be a modification that would keep the water "fresher", its been tried but the orifice for the "controlled overflow" (a better term might be "controlled leak") is prone to getting plugged and need weekly monitoring.

A tank seems like overkill for that location. I was thinking more along the lines of the "controlled overflow" concept but thought it would be difficult to balance the water split between Live Oak Spring and Pacheco Camp (i.e. Pacheco Camp would get less water because some is now lost at the Live Oak Spring trough overflow). Would it be possible to put in a separate pipe from Lost Oak Spring to the trough?

///Charlie

 

[TahoeBC]

Or folks can just filter at Pacheco Camp ;-)

 

[Moe Ped]

A tank seems like overkill for that location. I was thinking more along the lines of the "controlled overflow" concept but thought it would be difficult to balance the water split between Live Oak Spring and Pacheco Camp (i.e. Pacheco Camp would get less water because some is now lost at the Live Oak Spring trough overflow). Would it be possible to put in a separate pipe from Lost Oak Spring to the trough?

///Charlie

Even the relatively "clear" water directly from the spring source tends to plug control valves/orifices/etc as it is heavily mineralized; where it mixes with air mini stalactites (stalagmites???) start to form and unless removed will impede flow.

There are 2 spring boxes at LOS though; one with 90% of the flow---it would be possible to run it only to PC and use the one with the smaller flow to just fill the LOS horse trough. Next meeting I'll see if I can get this approved.

 

[Moe Ped]

Or folks can just filter at Pacheco Camp ;-)

^^^+++