Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Birdy for Dins?

Devil's Gate Dam has two parts, or so it seems to me. The eastern end of it looks relatively newish. The western part resembles a medieval fortress. I don't know what that thing is in the middle of the photo, but I took more shots of it, which I'll show you.

Boz doesn't care. He's just trying to figure out how high he can jump.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

greatest name for a dam ever.

Laurie Allee said...

Wow, Petrea. Where is this? Boz looks so tiny in comparison!

Petrea Burchard said...

Devil's Gate? They got a Devil's everything somewhere.

West side, facing south, Laurie. It really does look medieval, and it's very high.

Unknown said...

I have to go to this place, is it in Altadena Petrea?

Anonymous said...

Thats a lot of concrete. Interesting information about this dam in Michael Davis' City of Quartz. Aleister Crowley thought this area was one of the portals leading to hell. I don't make this stuff up. People go there yearly to pay tribute to Crowley, L Ron Hubbard and the JPL scientist who were part of this system of belief.

Benjamin Madison said...

Splendidly apocalyptic. You do have a bleak, horrible side. I mean that in the nicest way.

USelaine said...

I just think of vast quantities of roiling, silt-laden water. And there is Boz at the bottom of it. 8^(

Virginia said...

Well I am at a loss for words, for once. I don't know what to make of it. I wll say I like the colors and your dog adds something to the composition. The portal to hell part makes it even stranger.. More photos please!

Anonymous said...

I believe my grandfather used to call the contraption 2 things

-idiot proofing
-cr@p preventer

the first, to prevent idiots from climbing in, on and around said object inside of the fencing and fiddling with it.

the second, to prevent stuff from banging into and getting lodged in the mechanism (like the stuff hanging around nearby on the ground like trees---that is when there is actually water there.

LOVE the photo, perspective with Boz and the details. Makes me feel like I am there!

T Thompson said...

I'm always fascinated by this sort of thing - out of the way parts that most people never see.

Spurred by the description of the dam (part old, part new) I looked up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arroyo_Seco_(Los_Angeles_County)
I'd guess that the "old" is still original from the 1920's and the "new" is the result of the 90's rebuild. Then again, it could be a matter of changes made during the original construction, but since it was built in respose to the 1917 flood and was completed in 1920 I would tend to rule that idea out...

That link (if it makes it to post) should be interesting to "non native" visitors to your blog, such as myself.

Sure reads like it must be beautiful country around the park at the very least...

Christie said...

We don't have anything like that around here, unless you count the locks in the river between here and Canada that let the barges go up the river instead of over the waterfall. It is a huge place though if Boz looks so tiny. Give him a pat for us!

Sharon said...

That photo is very scary looking. It looks like a place you could get trapped and not find a way out of.

Ms M said...

I took Ted's advice and looked Devil's Gate up on Wikipedia. A photo on that site shows the "devil's face" in the rock formation. Interesting info.

That area of the dam looks foreboding, altho I would guess it is very efficient in protecting the area from flooding.

I like the feeling you captured in your photo; Boz gives us a good sense of perspective!

Petrea Burchard said...

Stef: It's at the south end of Hahamongna Watershed Park. I think the south end is actually in Pasadena, north end's in Altadena, something like that. We can share.

PA are you serious? Can we go next time?

Benjamin, thank you! I'm honored.

USElaine, someday I'll tell you the story of how his joyful abandon almost got him into trouble down there.

Virginia, see tomorrow's post and click on Overdog. Thanks for asking!

Trish, thank you so much and thanks to your grandfather, too! (See tomorrow's post.)

Excellent link Ted, thanks.

Christie, I gave Boz fifty pats for you.

Sharon, it looks closed in from the photo, but there's higher ground nearby. It's been known to fill up, though. Last time the water got to the top was early 2005, just before I moved to Pasadena.

Ms M, that "devil's face" has been covered with some kind of spray cement. I think I know the spot, but you can't see it anymore. It's too bad.

Sarah said...

hmmm,So strange shot!

D-C said...

A great shot!
Looks like an animal is standing before the humans world, left outside alone.