The Great Highway / Dispatch from the shrinking Front Line

It is BIG news around these parts. A portion of The Great Highway has been shut down. Not just a lane - all Southbound lanes have been blocked off to vehicular traffic (northbound lanes are open) due to storm and erosion damage. For those that are unfamiliar, The Great Highway runs the length of and parallels Ocean Beach, which is located on the far western edge of the San Francisco Peninsula. So with all the hub-bub going on I decided to take a walk down and take a gander for myself. What not a better mission to bring my trustful companion and fellow adventurer - my daughter. And as it turned out, we were blessed with a beautiful day!

As we made our way down (we walked and took the stroller) an immediate observation was the extraordinary amount of flotsum along the length of the beach. Logs, branches, trash, telephone pole parts, foam, sections of docks, old x-mas trees and lots of exposed random rocks. Not too much of a surprise since we have recently gone through some good stormy wet weather cycles. But still more than I have seen in a long time.

A second observation was the amount of sand eroded off the beach. Many of the dunes that have been built up over the years are taking a real hammering. Yesterday I ran into Carol Schultz, "Queen of the Beach" in Golden Gate Park. One of her comments to me was, "Jeez DAK, I have never seen so much sand missing off the beach". I concur.

Sure enough, there is some serious havoc that Mother Nature is unleashing at the southern end of The Great Highway. The Sloat Parking Lot's (1st Parking Lot) egress point is completely been compromised due to high surf. And the the 2nd Parking Lot is also in bad shape due to some serious hydrodynamic activity.

While I'd love the opportunity to delve into the very interesting battle that will soon unfold regarding how to resolve this problem and the various stakeholders involved, I need to cut this short and catch some shut-eye.

So tomorrow, THE WHAT, THE WHO, THE WHERE, and THE WHY of this battle between Mother Nature, a City, a National Park System, Environmentalists and the residents of the Outer Sunset.

I almost forgot my 3rd observation. No Sloat Parking Lot means less crowded surf. My daughter and I watched some seriously good surf come through with only a handful of guys on it. Typically there would be twice the amount of people out in the water.

Have you been down there yet? Tell us your observations and your ideas of how to handle The Great Highway erosion issue of 2010!

Robert Frost & San Francisco

This caught my eye today while out and about in Golden Gate Park with my family. One of those dedication plaques you see on park benches all over the place. I really liked this poem and did not know that Robert Frost had any San Francisco-centric poetry (not that I'm follower of Frost's work either). Harkens back to a day when the City was a little more gritty and rough around the edges.

Have you read this poem before? Are you familiar with other similar San Francisco-centric poetry? If so, drop me a line I'd like to read more.

True Wilderness VS. Metropolis

It is really easy to get boxed into the urban fabric of the City. Sometimes it is important for us City dwellers to obtain a vantage point that takes us outside the confines of our concrete environment. There have been several vantage points I have been recently poking around to get some shots of the BIG surf showing up this Winter Season - like the shots above and below.

What I appreciate most about this vantage point is how it clearly illustrates the close proximity of true wilderness to the Sunset District's western edge. It is easy to forget that whales, dolphins, great white sharks, orcas, seals and a whole multitude of marine life not listed, ply the waters just off shore. What really separates us from the wilderness is just a Great Highway, sections of dunes, a concrete seawall, a large sandy beach and for most, cold water.

Think about it.

We live in a very unique and special place.

Jessica Dunne, an artist with an eye for San Francisco's Sunset District

"Sloat at Sunset", Jessica Dunne

I recently stumbled upon a book highlighting the artistic work of Jessica Dunne. I found the book at Mullosk Surf Shop (they do not list it in the books section, it is at the shop though). What I was most struck about Jessica's work was her obvious close connection to our fine neighborhood the Sunset. I have yet to see any artist capture the feeling of our neighborhood quite as well as she has. The landscape/streetscape, the color, the dampness, the lighting, iconic Sunset subject matter, it is all there and impressively done.

Much of her work that interests me centers around The Great Highway, specific homes in the hood and beachscapes that often include the beautiful waves that wash up on our beach. I've also stumbled upon a book that focuses on her paintings of a local surfboard shaper. While I appreciate this collection it does not capture my attention as much as her Sunset-centric work. She has quite a bit of San Francisco-centric paintings as well - obviously a bi-product of just a portion of her education at San Francisco State.

If you'd like to see more of her work, check out her website:

http://www.jessicadunne.com/

Are you familair with Jessica Dunne? Have you met her? Do you own any of her artwork? If so I'd love to hear first hand information on this talented artist.

"Feinstein's Legacy", Jessica Dunne

"Mercury Vapor", Jessica Dunne

Ocean Beach (1), Surfer (0)

I've always joked with my buddies about having to be picked up by the Coast Guard out past Seal Rock and having the TV crews waiting for you on the beach!

Well even when the surf is small you gotta watch the currents. As someone commented on the article, I can't believe this guy actually talked to the TV cameras.

My rule: when the current is ripping north at a good pace, I start heading in at VF's just in case. Never had a problem so far. Know your limits.

The video is worth watching - cringe value. At least it wasn't a bodyboarder, F'in surfers!

Read about it and watch it here! Courtesy of SFgate.com and Channel 4 News.

The pic above was taken last year on a well overhead day, probably three times bigger than the day this guy got swept out.

A Treasury of the Sierra Nevada, A Book Review

Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith, John Muir, James Marshall, Grizzly Adams, Jack London, David Brower and Yvon Chouinard. If this list of mountain men, adventurists, conservationists, environmentalists, writers and experienced outdoorsmen peaks your curiosity then I definitely have a book for you. It is titled...

..."A Treasury of the Sierra Nevada".

It is a collection of previously released articles, essays and personal accounts from the individuals listed above (and many more not listed) regarding the mighty Sierra Nevada of CA. It was first published in 1983 by Wilderness Press located in Berkeley, CA. It was compiled and edited by Robert Leonard Reid.

Let me start off by explaining that I chose this book to review after being laid up in bed for 24 hours with a flu bug at my brother's cabin in Tahoe over the New Years weekend. Very appropriate locale, yet I would have preferred to have been drinking, eating and romping around in the snow surrounded by all of my family. Regardless, when life hands you a lemon... might as well learn something while shivering under the covers of your bed!

It was not the first time that I have picked up this book at his cabin. Aha! A sign of a truly good book. One you can pick up time after time and enjoy reading. The factual stories and perspectives contained within help to give you a real picture of what the Sierras were like 150 years ago. What it was like trying to cross with some of the first immigrant wagon trains.

It also helps to shape the history of environmentalism and conservation that focused on the Sierra Nevada through John Muir's work all the way up to David Brower's work in the 60's and 70's. A classic quote from David Brower that struck me as so perfect was his reaction to Disney's refusal to embrace his recommendation for either tunnel or fly-in only access into a remote and secluded valley Disney was eyeing for development. These would obviously be less of an impact than a paved road. When Disney brushed off these alternate plans as way too expensive, Brower responded, "you are going to change something FOREVER, so you can amortize the costs over a thousand years".

If reading a 17 year old boy's account of surviving the winter alone at Donner Lake in the mid 1800's sounds interesting then put this book on your to read list. If getting a little taste of what native american/CAian life was like back before the automobile, again, put it on the list. If you want to know what the Sierra Nevada's flora and fauna were like before Ronald McDonald and Starbucks reigned supreme, you'll like this book. All of this with a few interesting maps, diagrams, sketches, photos, and a first hand account of cannibalism, what more could you ask for.

Many of the stories surrounding the first explorers/immigrants made me realize just how soft we as a society have become. I'm sure if Jedediah or Kit woke up covered in four feet of snow with a spot of the 24 hour flu they would have laced up their old snow shoes and been off before I could have made my cup of coffee, scrambled my eggs and toasted my bagel around the ole campfire.  

Enjoy!