Our devil's nose and pointy chin are at left (see yesterday's photo for comparison). To give scale: if I stood at the center of that gate my head would come up to about two thirds its height, maybe a tad more. At least that's my best guess. I'm 5'4" tall. The gate was across a stream from where we stood and as it was deep there I didn't try crossing.
I don't normally show graffiti on this blog, but as this is such an unusual spot (for me--apparently not for vandals with cheap paint) I decided to post it.
It's not a particularly dangerous hike, but you need high boots and a walking stick. And I shouldn't have to tell you this but just in case: don't attempt it when there's water behind the dam. To illustrate, Mister Earl found us this amazing video. Thanks, Mister Earl.
22 comments:
Going out to get that photo sounds like a brave adventure.
Petrea, you are 5'4"? From your writing you seem much taller.
This looks like Disneyland, with the cute shaping of the gate, and the smoothed-over rocks around it. Maybe a movie set, with Bruce Willis waiting for his cue to burst out of the shadows...
Hee hee, Dina, I do tend to write tall.
The stuff on the rocks is called gunite, USElaine. A mix of cement and other stuff. I guess there was a reason to put it there, but it seems a shame.
Cool photos yesterday and today. Gunite makes the rocks look so strange, like paper mache.
The water comes pouring through that gate during a storm.
WATCH
WV: inkine. After a fire, the water pouring through the gate looks inkine.
That's a gorgeous photo. (How come such a nice word got mixed up with throats?)
And that's an amazing video, Mr Earl - whoever took it was either brave or foolhardy to climb down there. It looks like the devil's disgorging the contents of hell on Apocalypse Day (another federal holiday no-one observes).
Brilliant video, Earl! I'll link to it in the post, if you don't mind. If you notice, it's a sunny day, there's no storm. The water management people do just that--they manage the water, and if there's water behind the dam they can let that water flow at any time. You don't want to be down there if it's raining, or if there's water behind the dam. AT ALL.
Apocalypse Day, Bellis? Is there such a thing?
It does look like something out of a 007.
Of course I don't mind. I was really just looking for photos of the dam when I came across the video. I picked that one because it was short, but there are several very cool ones on YouTube. There are also some photos on Google Images of interesting old postcards of the dam.
I could also imagine the Batmobile tearing out of there.
We've got Batman and 007. It is a theatrical kind of place.
According to this site,
http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocation.aspx?locationid=63948
Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard opened up a portal to another world here. I'm so glad the gate was locked.
Great photos; and the one with the silhouette of the devil is fabulous. I've only seen the profile on a half baked wiki shot. Makes me want to explore this area of the dam.
BTW: how on earth did you ever figure out the right question to ask google in order to come up with gunite? It's the kind of arcane info I thrive on
Interesting stuff, Bellis. In the tragic cases of the missing children, however, both are now assumed by authorities to have been victims of Mack Ray Edwards.
Tommy Bowman
Bruce Kremen The upper Arroyo was definitely his hang-out.
As for a portal to another world, I can't say. But I've never felt a sinister presence in the Arroyo.
Thank you, PA. I found the gunite reference on Ann Erdman's blog, Pasadena PIO.
I've heard of gunite before, but this article sheds more light on the processes of shooting concrete though a hose and how they came to be.
What is Gunite?
For years I have promoted water behind this damn dam...If order to create a sea(float)plane base to fly down to the yacht at Newport, doncha' know...
s/b..."in order"
BTW Mr. Earl..are the photos of the 1938 flood??
Pascal Jim: Not that I saw. There are a couple of old postcards of cars going over the bridge that I saw.
So Earl, according to that article, it looks like gunite/shotcrete is used for stabilizing. Does it seem so to you? I guess that's why they used it on rock formations around the dam. There's more of it above the dam as well.
Yes. One of the articles I read on Devil's Gate said that it was used to prevent erosion of the rocks around the dam. Shotcrete is also used to build swimming pools, and many other applications. Essentially, it just means that a concrete mixture is applied by forcing it through a hose. Gunite appears to be a specific kind of shotcrete, where the concrete mixture is a powder and the water is mixed in at the nozzle. This allows them to vary the amount of water as the concrete is applied. Very interesting that it's been around so long, because it seems it hasn't been commonly used until more recent years.
Fascinating photos of this place and great video from Mr. Earl!
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