The moon becomes new Friday August 1 at 3:13am (Pacific Time). I will mark the new moon by setting my alarm for that moment in anticipation of the first night of the 3:15 Experiment, where I, and others around the world will write in that hypnopompic/hypnogogic state “between sleeps.”
On that day also, a solar eclipse will travel east with the dawn and cross eastern Canada, Greenland, Siberia and Asia. (Here in the US we won’t experience a total solar eclipse in the US for four more years although parts of Maine will experience a partial eclipse at dawn).
the path of Friday August 1's Total Eclipse of the Sun
An eclipse occurs when the moon gets in the way of the sun, much like you can hold an orange up in front of you to block the sun. Just as you can hold the orange in such a way to only block part of the sun from your perspective, how much of the sun is blocked by the moon depends on where you are at the time. (This is an Art Predator explanation–no one to credit and I’m the one to blame if it doesn’t make sense to you.) The lunar eclipse two weeks later on Sat. Aug. 16 is centered in Madagascar; it will be over by the time the moon rises in the US. For more about the August 16 lunar eclipse and astrology, scroll down.
For tons of maps and graphs about where the eclipse will be etc as well as links for live coverage, check out Nasa’s eclipse site: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008.html
Eclipses are times of great change; change can be scary, threatening or an opportunity for growth and empowerment. Just before moving from the Paradise of Santa Cruz to the Limbo of Reno, during a break in a summer school spanish class. A few years later, I was in the path of a total eclipse out in the Basin and Range near a Native American rock art site when I was struggling with immense grief and loss. A solar eclipse occurred in Anarctica in February; two weeks later, the lunar eclipse, and the rituals we did were powerful and empowering.
For some eclipse astrology, I explored a number of sites and fell in love with this one.
Unfortunately, it is only general info on the astrological impact of eclipses, and not specific to this one as she hasn’t updated her site in the previous year.
In general, according to evolvingdoor,
Solar Eclipse in Leo!
Eclipses bring powerful transformation and growth, often disguised as an obstacle or crisis. This eclipse is all about seeing yourself in a different light, which could show a side of you that you didn’t know was there.
Astromarc offers lots of specific details at :http://www.astromarc.com/horoscopes/sagittarius/index2d.ht
This wordpress blog, Celestial Space, was my favorite–very imaginative, metaphorical, colorful and painterly. Be sure to check out her post “New Moon/Solar Eclipse” where she urges
United we Stand”
Sun and Moon will be hand in hand in the astrological sign of Leo – having a unified focus. Some themes and potentials of Leo are: individual style, expression, heart/romance/love, play, innocence, dignity, passion, royalty, drama, creative flair, generosity, laughter, inner child, children, heart chakra, compassion and leadership. Some off balance qualities of Leo: arrogance, narcissism, dominating, overly self-centered, childish, willful, pride, glamour gone awry, melodramaThe Conscious and Sub Conscious are looking to work together, bringing you in tune with what you would “love” to say, do, act or express. Listen to the wisdom of the heart. What would you feel passionate doing? It is a major opportunity for changes or shifts in Consciousness. Generally speaking, Solar Eclipse energies unfold over the next six to twelve months. Solar Eclipses tend to repeat degrees every 19 years. From August 1, 2008 (9 deg. Leo) look back 19 years and see what major transition, event or transformation that unfolded for you. You may get a peek into upcoming themes or events. New Moon/Solar Eclipse is like a super energized, wild card energy – especially that its in a fire element (Leo). There may be spontaneous surprises in store or you may be the one giving them.
Astrology.com says:
If your Sun sign or Ascendant is Leo, almost every part of your life will be affected. If you are an Aquarian or have Aquarius rising, you will also feel this eclipse more strongly than most because Aquarius is opposite of Leo and is in direct alignment with this eclipse. Overall, you will find yourself reinventing your life, even changing your appearance to reflect the shifts in your life. Ultimately, changes in how you see yourself will ripple out and affect personal and business relationships.
If Leo is in your First or Seventh House, you will focus on yourself, your marriage or your relationship. If it is situated in the Second or Eight House, your earnings or joint finances will be impacted. If it is the Third or Ninth House, travel or educational pursuits are highlighted. In the Fourth or Tenth House, home and career will come front and center. Eclipses in the Fifth or Eleventh House put the spotlight on self-expression, children, groups and organizations. Finally, eclipses in the Sixth or Twelfth House put the focus on health, work and service. Wisdom holds that the effects of a solar eclipse last as long in years as the eclipse lasts in hours. Events that are triggered by an eclipse usually take six months to unfold, so you can expect this process of change to continue. The opportunity to break old patterns will present themselves as you make changes.
Hmmn, Leo’s in my 5th House so the eclipse spotlights self expression, children, groups, and organizations; Leo’s also my north node (not sure what that means yet). I am certainly in the process of moving from teaching writing to doing writing–changing organizations and forms of self expression!
LUNAR ECLIPSE IN AQUARIUS AUGUST 16
FROM astrology.com: A partial eclipse of the Moon will take place on August 16. The entire eclipse will be visible in most of Europe and Africa, and partially visible in South America and Australia. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow on the Moon. Eclipses always come in pairs, and this eclipse follows the dramatic solar eclipse of August 1.
Eclipses are like big exclamation points and since this eclipse is in Aquarius, a sign that is focused on the workings of the larger group or community, expect confusing leadership situations, power struggles and sharp words. In addition to the heightened emotions of this full Moon, an active pattern of planetary aspects also adds drama to this eclipse. The placement of Aquarius in your personal chart will define how it impacts your life over the next five months.
If Aquarius is in your First or Seventh House, the eclipse will signal a period of personal development and growth. And if Aquarius is in your Seventh House, the focus will be on growth and development in your relationships.
An eclipse in the Second House will always make you more aware of your attachments: the things that you believe that you cannot survive without. But an eclipse in the Eighth House highlights your responsibilities to others: both physically and emotionally.
When occurring in the Third House, you will be forced to confront fears and your communication style. And in the Ninth House, you will be forced to consider the bigger picture of your life. How do you want to grow and expand?
In the Fifth or Eleventh House, the focus on the next five months will be on issues of individual expression and group participation. In the Fifth House, the eclipse will stir up the creative urge, or represent changes in relationships with children or with casual romances. Eclipses in the Eleventh House can often indicate changes in relationships with our peers and friends. Interesting–that’s me! Looking for work!
If Aquarius occupies your Sixth or Twelfth House, the focus over the next five months will be on your health — both physical and spiritual. Eclipses in the Sixth House often make you aware of your physical needs and illness, while in the Twelfth House, they highlight religious or spiritual needs.
To mark the first day of the 2008 3:15 Experiment and the great changes presented by the upcoming solar and lunar eclipses, here’s the 3:15 experiment poem I wrote on August 1 when I was pregnant with my son. I’m working on a iMovie of this poem, so please check back again!
315 time for transformation ARTLIFE broadside
it’s 315 time again
i go to lie on my side to write
but the baby is there
i can’t lie on the baby
it’s like lying on a watermelon
large and hard
the baby sleeps right now
no movement–i’m awkward
trying to find a way
to comfortably write i’m strained
as constrained as the baby at 29 weeks
we are alike today in that way
both trying to get comfortable
to get some sleep
the baby can see light
a red glow seeps through my belly
can hear sound but probably not
the crickets outside or
daddy making his going to sleep sigh
hmm mmm mmmm he says
the notebook too is pregnant
uncomfortable it doesn’t
want to open to bend back
to receive anymore
it too is slightly bent
out of shape its spirals
damaged well traveled but
empty of much writing
as i slide down scoot down
slip down off my pillows
losing my great grip on my place
the angle of the pen
the lightness of the ink
indicates betrays its discomfort
the pen is pregnant too
pregnant with poems with desire
to be a useful tool
yet more than a tool of transmission
a tool of transformation
i too am that tool
one of transmission of transformation
the baby in my belly
the pen in my hand
on the path & trout 4 breakfast
this brook trout photo came from: http://www.maryedwardsphotography.com/m_edwards/3Pictures/Fish/brook_trout.htm
Home again from another trip, this time around 7,500′ on the western slope of the Sierra. And I’m still looking for work, walking that new path to the waterfall…
I even had brook trout for breakfast! I caught it myself in Peppermint Creek in Sequoia National Forest, just a few short miles from the Trail of a Hundred Giants. After blessing it with cornmeal, and expressing my thanks and love for this beautiful, graceful creature which I caught on a combination of gold flecked salmon eggs and corn, I cooked it myself in salt, pepper, and corn muffin mix–it filled the iron skillet–and shared it with my friends and family. I cooked up eggs in the hot seasoned skillet, plus corn blueberry pancakes and Peet’s coffee (half French decaf, half Garuda blend).
A beautiful morning, filled with gratitude for a wonderful weekend hiking amongst the giant sequoias, out to the Needles Lookout Tower, and down the creek to the waterfalls and swimming holes, for our sweet shady campsite along Peppermint Creek, and for the opportunity to catch some trout!
(BTW, I am referencing Ray Carver’s poem “Looking for Work” from A New Path to the Waterfall–he wants brook trout for breakfast…you can find it on this blog here)
The Man Will Burn Without You
-
Burning Moms Logo
Bang the drum, the monkeys spin in the zoetrope above!
by Patrick May, San Jose (CA) Mercury News, May 23, 2008
“The flying monkeys are laughing at you, San Jose. You’re way too serious. Lighten up. …It’s called “Homouroboros.” … a gigantic zoetrope first unveiled at last year’s Burning Man… pure monkey magic.“ - Burn, Baby, Burn: Should I bring the kids to Burning Man? YES
by Kris Vagner, East Bay Express (Emeryville, CA), May 21, 2008“People who believe so strongly in art and fun that they’re willing to haul a week’s worth of food, water, shelter, and silly clothing out to a barren lakebed in Northern Nevada to share good times with 40,000 strangers. Those were the things – and people – I wanted my kid to see.“
- Burned Out on Burning Man: Can the artistic free-for-all go green?
by Matthew Taylor, Sierra Club Magazine, July/August 2008“Event organizers had long promoted a “leave no trace” ethic and ensured that volunteers scrub the desert of the last cigarette, but a chorus of demands for increased environmental responsibility helped motivate last year’s eco-theme: Green Man.”
- But why should you miss out on all the fun??
- And if you can’t make it, and I do, I will blog away for you, recharging my new MacBook Pro on a solar array someone has created for the event, uploading at the wifi in the cafe!
Missing Sweet Love: The Arbiters
I’ve heard “Missing Sweet Love” by The Artbiters a couple times now on Jason Bentley’s Metropolis show on KCRW and each time the sound goes UP and it’s time to DANCE!
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Arbiters/_/Missing+Sweet+Love
A little bit of MIA, Verve, Beyonce, Jay-Z…goes a long way toward being a really fun mash-up…and tonight he followed it up with some Vampire Weekend which moved the groove right along and helped me get the laundry done…(with a glass of 2001 RBJ theologicum–yep a little Chris Ringland wine makes the world very fine!)
check them out:
http://www.myspace.com/arbiters
be sure to listen to
Gimme That Love Thing
They’re LA based so maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to enjoy them live sometime soon. Not quite as out there as the Avalanches but worth a babysitter and a foray into LA traffic.
Closer to home, this Saturday August 2 a pomo electrico/eclectico beach party awaits at the former Oil Piers:
This Experiment is not for the sane nor the weak. Register here.
Here are the rules:
1) Set your alarm for 3:15 AM THIS THURSDAY, JULY 31 (because Aug 1st begins that midnight).
2) Write every morning during the entire month of August (you can do it!). Any form, any length, any style…
3) Choose your notebook and pen wisely. INK will stain your sheets if you fall back asleep. Small notebooks are hard to write in if you are 1/2 asleep.
4) The idea is to ride that 1/2 sleeping, 1/2 waking state as long as it takes to write your poem. We recommend you stay in bed and use minimal lighting (if at all). Falling back asleep again is simply an occupational hazard. We forgive you. (We don’t recommend that you make yourself a cup of coffee and go to your computer… it defeats the whole purpose of the experiment.)
5) Some people don’t read any of their poems until the end of the month. Most don’t type them up until after the experiment is over. This part is totally up to you.
6) At the end of August, log onto the website (315experiment.com) and post all your poems. DO NOT EDIT YOUR WORK!!!! We want the raw stuff, baby. We want your 3:15 mind!
7) IF you ever forget your ID or password, e-mail webmonkey Tod McCoy for it. todmccoy (at) gmail.com with the SUBJECT LINE: “NEED 3:15 ACCOUNT INFO”
8) PLEASE ADD dreamworld (at) 315experiment.com to your list of friends so that we don’t get stuck in your junk mail when we send out group e-mails. We promise not to spam you if you be our friend.
Have fun out there!
Sincerely,
The 3:15 Cognizanti
PS The Art Predator is one of the 3:15 Cogizanti. I’ve been doing the experiment since 2001. In 2006, I co-edited between sleeps: the 3:15 experiment 1993-2005.
GO FOR IT!! (at least give it a try…each night in the month of August…discover your 3:15am mind!) Check back here for a button (I hope).
ballad of my belly
ARTLIFE LImited Editions published this as a broadside on its back cover– my hennaed pregnant belly with a line of this 315 Experiment poem scribed.
ballad of my belly ARTLIFE 2003
moving quickly abruptly
the belly tugs the baby pulls
the light to go on
the alarm to go off
in the frantic moments
the belly forgotten
cries out in pain
specifies attention
the alarm off the light on
the pillows stacked pen in hand
the belly calms
the baby awake now
rhythmic kicks press
the duvet rises falls
a kick now too on the right side
the freight train rocks our world
it is not a time for sudden movements
battling alarms blinding lights
but of sensuality, snuggles
languid moments
i can’t help but soap my belly
run my hand around and around
the big pregnant curve
the full heavy breasts
i have always been self-conscious of my belly
but now i am not afraid
of its possible protuberance to the world
my belly is there to be noticed
it has a life of its own
and people want to touch it
caress it feel the life inside
we oblige my belly and i
for months now i don’t look in the mirror
wonder about my belly–am i too fat?
instead my husband massages it
with the finest oils, coos
my belly has never been happier than now
with a life of its own
when the baby is gone
the belly will miss all the attention
the attention that will move to the breasts…
(You may have noticed that it’s 10 4 line stanzas plus a single line stanza. Most pregnancies last 40 weeks, often considered 10 “moons” long. The form of the poem was completely unconscious; the poem here is posted exactly as it was written at 3:15 am on August 2; I didn’t edit it ever into this form.)
Join the 315 Experiment–we start writing at 315am Friday August 1!
The Ballad of Marcel Duchamp & the Gopher: There is Love
In the middle of the night
you don’t want to think
you’re on auto-pilot
pee, brush teeth
go to the kitchen
get some water.
The kitchen floor is warm under my
bare feet near the stove. I turn on the light.
There’s Marcel Duchamp the big gray cat–maybe
he’s been lying here where
it’s warm–and there’s
a giant rodent. A giant
rodent–a gopher or a squirrel
I don’t know I am
just amazed just amazed I didn’t step
on it. The toothbrush stays
in my mouth I don’t scream
I look at Marcel. He is
Proud. He is Happy. I
decide to wake my husband
to ask him to help with the
removal of the dead said rodent.
He is not happy. He wants to
remove the cat. He puts on his
smiley face bathrobe and goes upstairs.
The rodent is on a kitchen
rug for easy removal. He screams.
It’s not dead yet
he yells down the stairs. Don’t
come up here. I decide
not to. He gets a shovel
bangs it on the head
a few times and tries to move it.
It’s still alive. he bangs it
again and carts it to the trash
washes his hands, takes off
his smiley face bathrobe and climbs
into bed.
My husband writes a 315 of
his own, an oral freewrite
about gophers, sex and 3:15am
a statement of gratitude that the kitchen
light works–no more matchbooks to adjust.
He says, the gopher grills
This “Ballad of Marcel Duchamp & the Gopher” is in response to the readwritepoem prompt; if more ballads don’t float your boat, take a ride on the poetry train!
I wrote this poem as part of the 3:15 Experiment which starts up again in a few days. The last two lines in the poem refer to my first 315 poem, “waiting” which was published in ARTLIFE Limited Editions. The 3:15 Experiment is where a bunch of poets around the world wake up at 3:15am local time during the month of August to write, then at the end of the month, post the raw, unedited stuff on the 3:15 experiment website. I admit, I did edit this poem to give it the traditional ballad 4 line stanza shape…I will be posting another ballad, the ballad of my belly, which I wrote at 3:15am in 4 line stanzas plus 1 one line stanza…which I didn’t do consciously or edited it that way at 315am or even notice until after the experiment
Join the 3:15 Experiment this year–register your participation at the 3:15 Experiment website today! And let me know too by telling me in a comment that you’re on-board! I may even figure out a way to do a button (Tod?)
Search this site for other 3:15 Experiment poems (or follow the links to come)–watch for more past 3:15 poems to encourage you to partcipate to be posted in the next few days!
Day 10: trout for breakfast
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Footsteps on the gravel in our campsite wake me.
THWACK! Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
It is 6:37am. We are at the BLM’s Tuttle Creek Campground a few miles and a thousand feet or so up from Lone Pine toward Mt Whitney Portal. Last night when we climbed into bed, it was raining and windy. Naked, listening to the rain on the roof of the van, looking out at the stars, smelling the wet sagebrush, hearing the creek nearby, full belly content after a wonderful meal at the Still Life Cafe in Independence, we realized we’d forgotten to pay the $5 for the campsite.
Which explains the THWACK–a ticket most likely lay under our windshield wiper. I get dressed to investigate and find an envelope on the windshield. No ticket. Whew.
It is already warm–in the high 60s– and I am sure the fish are up too so I wake the Big Monkey and the small boy. We mosey over to the creek, and then I leave them to fish while I go back to pack up when I hear the boy whoop and see him start running toward me: “Good news! Come see!” It is indeed a keeper of a trout! We ooh and ahh and take photos, then I return to then van. It’s in the mid-70s now at 730 and “Mom! Good news! Dad’s got another fish!” We put this fish in the bucket of creek water next to the first. It is now in the 80s at 8am, and this time, the van is packed when I am called again–another fish!
I remind the Big Monkey how to clean a fish (sharp knife from the anus up). I get out the salt, pepper, and corn muffin mix; the iron skillet sizzles with butter and olive oil. I sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, inside and out,, dip the fish in a simple batter of one egg with corn muffin mix, lay the fish in.
To quote Ray Carver, I have found a new path to the waterfall, and I am having trout for breakfast. Must be time to head home and land myself a great job!
While a flashflood watch was in effect when we were fishing in the eastern Sierra south of Bishop, turns out it was a deluge the previous night which closed Highway 395 just north of Independence, and slowed traffic to an escorted crawl.
Even though this flashflood was 24 hours old, only one of four lanes on 395 was open and the thick mud, black with soot from last year’s fires, surrounded us; plentiful water flowed and had yet to run clear.
When I was growing up, we used to play “flashflood” in the small pool in my grandparent’s Bakersfield backyard. We would zoom around and around the edges of the pool, thick with grass and dirt, roiling the water until it carried us along. A flashflood was fun and exciting.
But in 1997, on my way home from Burning Man, I was caught in a flashflood on 395 in the Red Rock State Park area about 30 miles north east of Mojave. Perched high in my van, I watched in shock as the milk chocolate mud flooded down, filling the ravines, climbing the bridge, sweeping the highway.
Unless you’ve been in a flashflood or a major earthquake, you have no idea how loud these events are. In addition to the shock of watching the world go topsy-turvy, the ear-splitting noise stuns you into awestruck submission.
As the water receded from the road even as rain continued to pelt our cars, a 4×4 truck forged ahead, and slowly, gingerly, many of us followed, the water up to the hubcaps of my 79 VW westfalia. We didn’t get far before we saw cars nose dived into the ravine, then we were stopped by a police car at the top of the hill. Below us, a river raged, and the road was 3-5′ deep in mud. No one was going anywhere for quite some time.
Most people hung out in their cars. My bike was in the van, so I went for a spin down the hill in the warm rainy afternoon air, perfumed with wet sage and earth. The mud and water poured across, and I watched transfixed until a police officer insisted I return to my vehicle. I asked about the people in the cars and learned they were all right; a young girl returning from beauty college had lost most of her clothes, and was cold and hungry. I gave her something to wear, and using the van’s stove, I cooked us up some soup, then some mac’n cheese. Somehow, I had cell service, and I passed my phone around. At dawn, police led us though miles and miles of mud.
Seeing the remnants of this flashflood brought all those memories back; trailers, cars, odd items displaced and scattered by the flood. I was happy to drive up to the Still Life Cafe in Independence, park out front, and dash in. It looked like they were winding down for the evening, and I assumed that they’d been slammed with patrons stuck in Independence because of the road closure. Yes they would serve us, yes come in, yes, corkage is $10, no they hadn’t been unusually busy–most of the tourists headed to Subway across the street. Two tables had people enjoying their meals and another couple followed us in.
Those people who chose Subway over the Still Life missed out. The Still Life Cafe is a fine french bistro, originally located in the town of Olancha, near the shores of the Owens Lake. Back in 2001, we read a rave review in the LA Times, so on our next trip to Saline Valley Hot Springs in Death Valley NP, we planned our trip home around a stop for dinner there. The cement block building raised our eyebrows; the full establishment had us nod to accept a small table amongst the happy diners. We started with an appetizer of delicious chartcuterie, followed by a simple salad with an amazing vinaigrette, and the best pork tenderloin and fried potatoes ever. Manu Chau, with his distinctive multilingual and multicontinental stylings, played on the stereo.
When the restaurant lost its Olancha lease, it took awhile to find a new home and get established in Independence in an old wooden storefront painted a sunny mustard and with rustic antique furnishings and local paintings allowing for an annual visit.
Today we settle in and peruse the menu. In the past, we have enjoyed duck, rabbit, sausage, and other dishes unusual to our suburban, conservative restaurant scene (it is improving I must admit). I am attracted to the mussels which have sold out, and decide on bolognese or red meat sauce; the Big Monkey orders a skirt steak, and we chill the Only Son Barossa Valley 2005 Tempranillo. This is another varietal new to me, but familiar as spanish rioja, and I imagine it will work well both with his steak and my pasta. Once it has cooled off, we decide it’s good, dark ripe cherry in the glass (ahh a real wine glass!), not much of a nose to notice, a bit tannic …maybe it needs food to show it off more? The tempranillo does go well with our dinners. The herbs and flavors of my bolognese are complex and delicious and out of this world and I can barely get any because the boy wants it all!
However, after so many stunningly wonderful wines like last night’s Brothers in Arms 2002 shiraz, the 2002 RBJ Mataro, the Dead Letter Office, I am disappointed with this tempranillo. It could be a combination of factors–this wine is younger and different temperamentally than the more outrageous mataro and shiraz. It is more restrained, what I think of as more European in style, and made with a traditionally European grape. The alcohol at 14.9 is comparable to the others we’ve been drinking but more apparent in this wine. Maybe it needs more time in the cellar for more complexity to show.
After a very leisurely dinner (this is not a restaurant to rush through), we drive south another 30 minutes then climb a thousand feet out of Lone Pine on the Whitney Portal Road to the Cottonwood Road and Tuttle Creek Campground. The moon peeks through the clouds to outline the jagged Sierra ridge as rain falls. We choose a site where we can hear the roar of the creek and which promises shade in the morning from two young trees.
Our bellies full and content, all is well. Tomorrow we will have brook trout for breakfast!
Day 9: wishin 4 fishin
After five nights at Reds Meadow, it’s time to pack up and head out to the Eastern Sierra for one last night of our 10 day trip and some more fishing!
Rain threatens. From the Mammoth Mountain ski area parking lot, the Big Monkey rides off down the trail to meet us at the Visitor Center in town five miles away. In the van, we’re protected from the sprinkles, then a downpour, then hail! When he rolls in, he’s drenched and exhilarated.
Before we leave Mammoth, we stop at Burgers! for yes, burgers–a big juicy one which the Big Monkey and I share; the boy enjoys a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids menu, and we all take sips from the chocolate malt which comes with a sidecar. Burgers! is located across from the Village on Route 203.
Under stormy skies, we descend Sherwin Summit on Highway 395. The Sierras are gloomy and we’re glad we’re not in the back country on this day. We stop in Bishop at a sporting goods shop for some ideas about where to fish before our planned dinner at the Still Life Cafe in Independence. A clerk informs a flash flood has closed 395 just this side of Independence so we might as well pull over and fish awhile! We thought those clouds were ominous!
First we try Baker Creek Campground, just north and west of Big Pine. Up a mile or two past a park with playground equipment, we find the 70 site campground–hot and sprawling with cottonwoods along the forks of the creek, tents here and there, mostly empty. At a dam, with ponds on both sides, we see several sunburnt people fishing. Their tents and bicycles lead us to suspect this is their home and fishing provides their sustenance; according to the 2008 Eastern Sierra Fishing Guide, 3000 fish will be stocked in this creek this summer. The folks seem friendly enough, but we decide to seek out another spot. We follow a decent dirt and gravel road beyond the electricity transmission lines where a man in a pick-up truck recommends we head back to the pond. “That’s where I’d take my son,” he says.
Since we’ve already ruled the pond out, we continue our way 7 miles south on 395 until the Fish Springs hatchery road and another Inyo County Campground, Tinnemaha Creek, with 55 sites and 6,000 trout stocked this season. Both campgrounds offer vault toilets, a creek, tables, fire rings, and barbeque pits for $10 a night. While the county campground near Big Pine was sloping, this one is flat, allowing the creek to slow down a bit and meander tranquilly through camp under shady, leafy trees. Numerous bridges allow passage for cars and pedestrians to cross easily: it’s just a little too wide to jump, and mostly around knee deep.
The boy and his dad take off up the creek and I relax in the cool shade to enjoy the late afternoon with an iced coffee and an LA Times I picked up in Bishop. Almost immediately, the boy comes running back, lickety split: “Good news! Good news!”
“Did you catch a fish??”
“Good news! Good news! Come see! Good news! We caught a fish! Good news! It’s huge!”
I take off running after him, winding through the sage brush following cattle and fish trails. By the time we get there, the Big Monkey has released the 15″ or so trout since we plan to go out to dinner and he didn’t know what to do with it since we didn’t have a stringer. Ay yi yi, I tell him, like Ray Carver, I am dreaming of brook trout for breakfast (mmm wrapped in bacon…)! He insists he’ll catch another one, and I bring him a bucket for fish and a beer for him to enjoy while he catches them.
While we only catch willows, sticks, and moss, we have fun, and that’s what it’s about, isn’t it?
Up next: Dinner at the Still Life Cafe in Independence and camping at Tuttle Creek near Lone Pine!
art predator 